A Gift Of Love
by Divergent Kitty
Summary: A homeless teenager who has lost her family wanders the streets of Chicago with her cat, Manami. She remembers her family, and her friend who broke off contact with her for some unknown reason. As the cold winter chill bites her skin, she stumbles into a restaurant, seeking warmth. One event leads to another, and each brings her closer to happiness. Full of FourTris adorableness.
1. Winter, Flashbacks, and Friends

**Hey guys! So a new story! It won't be as long as Déjà Vu. It will just have a few chapters, but I promise you, you'll enjoy this one.**

**Like I said, enjoy! :D**

**Uri: Where's my Christmas present?**

**Me: After the disclaimer.**

**Uri: *pouts***

**Me: I mean it!**

**Uri: FIIIIIIIINNNNNNEEEEEEEEE Divergent Kitty doesn't own anything. All rights to Veronica Roth, WHO KILLED ME AND MARLENE AND LYNN AND-**

**Me: *covers Uri's mouth* Uri, be nice. Save that one for a more miserable chapter.**

**Uri: *sighs* Okay. I have technically done the disclaimer, SO GIMME MAH PRESENT!**

**Me: Here ya go! *hands present***

**Uri: *opens large box* WHAT THE *holds up a blow-up doll with a picture of Dauntless cake as the face***

**Me: *roars with laughter***

**Uri: FUCK YOU**

**Me: No, not me, that! *points at blow up doll***

**Uri: *flips me off***

"All I want for Christmas... Is you..."

The poor homeless teenager sighs, mist forming in front of her face, as she looks away from the glass, from her reflection. Beatrice hates looking at any reflective surface. She felt it was vain. But then again, she isn't much. She isn't pretty. She is skinny from the lack of food, pale from the lack of warmth, dirty from the lack of clothes. And she lacked another important thing.

She lacked love.

The last time Beatrice felt love was 7 years ago, when she was a little 9 year old kid. She didn't get anymore of that feeling ever since. She didn't have any parents; they disappeared long time ago. She didn't have any siblings; Caleb disappeared too.

No. They didn't disappear. She did. It was the other way round.

The calico cat rubs herself against Beatrice's legs. Beatrice smiles at her and strokes her white fur.

"I just want you for my own..."

As she continues to sing quietly to the cat and herself, she replays the incident in her mind.

**~•~•~•~•~Eight years ago~•~•~•~•~**

"Thank you so much!" Squealed the little girl as she gently held the kitten. "It's so cute!"

"We know how much you love cats. When we saw this one, we just had to get it for you," the 12 year old boy grinned. Caleb loved his sister, more than he loved anything.

"And by the way, 'it', is a 'she'," he clarified. Beatrice wasn't paying attention, though. She was too busy stroking the cat's fur. She started to purr, and rub herself against Beatrice.

"What do you want to name her, sweetie?" Natalie, her mother, asked. Beatrice paused. What _would_ she name her?

"Manami," she answered confidently. "It means affect... Affesha..." She frowned. How was that word pronounced again?

"Affectionate?" Supplied Andrew, her father. She nods. "Yeppy! What daddy said!"

"It means what daddy said, beauty," she explained.

"Affectionate beauty," Caleb smiled. "Suits her. Manami."

As if on cue, Manami meowed at the sound of her name. The Priors laughed.

"How cliché," Natalie remarked.

For the next half hour, the family sat near the fire as they opened more gifts. However, their main focus was on the new addition to the family. Beatrice found a red collar with a bow and a silver bell in front. She immediately snapped it around Manami's neck. She also found a thick, red ribbon, and tied it around her tail in a bow. Manami meowed at Beatrice, as if to say "thank you".

"Come on, kids," Natalie called out suddenly as she stands up. "It's time for our traditional Christmas dinner!"

"Yay!" Exclaimed the two kids in unison. They would go to a fancy restaurant and eat delicious food. They loved that tradition.

**~•~•~•~•~After dinner~•~•~•~•~**

"Thank you, mama and papa!" Beatrice exclaimed. "That was yummy!"

Andrew chuckled and hugged his daughter.

"Yeah, that was delicious, thank you," Caleb said gratefully.

As the family made their way back home, they passed by an alley. Suddenly, a gold chain got thrown out of the dark alley. Beatrice saw it get thrown out. She went over to pick it up and frowned. Manami sniffed at it curiously.

_Someone must've dropped this_, she thought.

"Hello?" She called out to the darkness. Caleb placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Sis, we have to go, come on."

"But I have to give this back to whoever dropped it," she protested.

"Okay, but hurry," he said. "It's getting dark."

Natalie and Andrew walked over and pulled the girl away gently. "Sweetie, leave it. It can be dangerous at night."

"But someone dropped it!"

The next thing they knew, a man had come out of the shadows and grabbed Beatrice's arm, making her drop the chain. She held on tightly to Manami, and screamed in shock.

"HELP ME!"

"BEA!"

Caleb latched on to his sister's tiny body, as did their mother. Andrew tried to force the man's grip off Beatrice, but he punched him, and Andrew stumbled back.

The man pulled hard on Beatrice's arm, and Natalie and Caleb lost their grip on her. The man ran off in the dark alley, with Beatrice and Manami.

"MOM! DAD! CALEB!" She screamed, absolutely terrified.

"BEATRICE!" They yelled back.

The last words she heard from them were,

"Be brave!"

She managed to catch a glimpse of the man's face before she was placed in a large sack. She felt herself being heaved onto the his back. In the darkness, Manami meowed at Beatrice comfortingly. She managed a small smile, and cuddled her pet. She clutched the heart-shaped jewelled gold pendant with her favourite family photo.

The photo was taken the previous Christmas. 7 year old Beatrice was carried by Natalie, princess style, and their faces were right next to each other. Andrew placed his face right next to Natalie's lovingly, with his arm on Caleb's shoulder. The boy stood in front of his father, and he placed his face next to his father's, for he was almost as tall as him. They all stood in front of the fireplace, a perfect family.

Her family.

Her beloved family.

And Beatrice blacked out, her family's words ringing in her mind.

_"Be brave."_

**~•~•~•~•~Hours later, maybe even days~•~•~•~•~**

Beatrice woke up to a wet, rough tongue stroking her cheek. Dazed, she got up and petted Manami. She took a look around at her surroundings.

It was dark, dusty, dirty, and cold. In fact, it was snowing. She must have been in the open, not in a building. She must have been in another alley.

"Hello?" Beatrice called out cautiously. Someone covered her mouth, and she gasped in surprise. She turned around to see the man who kidnapped her. Manami hissed at him, and he kicked her.

At this, Beatrice got really mad. She struggled, and managed to elbow him hard in the stomach. Unfortunately, it didn't really affect him. He managed to drag her away, somewhere in the maze of alleyways.

A maze. Beatrice distracted herself with that fact. She remembered reading a book series about a maze. There were these people in the future. They were called Gladers, and a maze surrounded their home, the Glade. They assigned the fastest people as Runners, to explore the Maze to try find a way out of the place.

She remembered it was thrilling; she remembered it was a great book series. It recently turned into a movie, and she watched it, and loved it. She loved books of that genre.

Beatrice took note of where the man was taking her. Which walls they passed, how many, and what items could be used to mark them. Then she saw it.

A street.

With people walking.

She remembered what was by that alley, and used it as a marker.

Two cardboard boxes, with the number 7 on them. She made a mental map of this 'maze' as they passed by different alleys leading to different places.

A broken glass bottle, about five aluminium beer cans, a garbage bag, clothes strewn across the ground, more clothes strewn across the ground. She wondered why there were so many clothes. She saw a bra, a blouse, and a skirt.

Then it dawned upon her.

Clothes for women.

_No!_

She was going to get raped!

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" She cried out in terror. The man's response was to smack her hard across the face. Squinting, Beatrice saw the silhouette of Manami close to the man. She signalled that Manami should not do anything, as she had a plan.

The man set her down and before she could make a run for it, he had ripped the skirt of her dress.

_Now is your chance! Run!_

But Beatrice stood rooted to the ground, unable to move, as the man tore the dress off her body.

She could not do anything. She wanted to, she just couldn't. She was frightened, scared out of her wits. The man started to touch her.

And she was frozen.

It was only when the man tried to take her pendant, then she came to her senses. She punched him hard in the face, and made a run for it, grabbing Manami along the way.

_Be fast, Greenie!_

She passed by the garbage bag and then made a left turn.

_Be fast enough to become a Runner!_

She passed the beer cans and turned right. The man was quite close to her.

_Be like Thomas!_

She passed the glass bottle and made another left turn.

_Outrun the Griever!_

She finally saw it. The cardboard boxes. She ran as fast as she could, closer to her escape.

_Escape the Maze!_

Then the man slashed at her back.

_No!_

Beatrice cried out in pain and fell to the ground. She was so close! Her short legs were unable to carry her out fast enough.

Now she would have to be tortured in the worst way possible.

At age 8.

"No, please don't hurt me," she whimpered as the man placed his hand on her leg and started to go up.

"Please don't..."

The man didn't bother to care.

"HELP!"

"Shut up!" The man clamped his hand over her mouth. She bit, hard, and shouted for help again.

"I told you, SHUT UP!"

Manami swiped her claw at the man's leg, and he winced, loosening his grip on Beatrice's mouth.

She screamed an ear-piercing scream, one that was bound to get at least one person's attention.

But no one came to her rescue.

The man then hit her stomach, and she fell, her head hitting the dirty ground. She was shivering, not just from the cold, but from fear.

It was clear that only a miracle would save her. But luckily for her...

A miracle was exactly what she got.

A voice rang through the alley, "Hello? Who's there?!"

The man turned to look at the source of the voice. A boy. The man scoffed.

"What can a little kid do to me?" He let go of Beatrice momentarily to approach the boy.

The next thing the man saw was a fist coming towards his throat. The man choked, and then got an uppercut to the jaw. The boy kicked the man's legs below him and he lost his balance and tumbled into a pile of trash. The boy used this chance to run to Beatrice and grasp her hand.

"We have to go."

"We can't."

He frowned, "Why not? He'll be up pretty soon."

"I am not dressed!" She hissed. Then she realised what she said. "I'm... Not dressed..."

At that point, the man had come to his feet, and tried to hit the boy. He caught his fist in mid-air, and twisted it sharply. The man screeched. The boy quickly wrapped his coat around Beatrice, all the while averting his eyes, and ran out of the alley.

As soon as they got out, they immediately took a deep breath of the cold air. It stung the inside of their nostrils, and that was oddly comforting.

It took them a while to adjust to the bright light after the dark of the alley. The boy lead the girl to a black, fancy car. Beatrice was afraid to go with him, after all she had been through.

"I understand," he told her. "But it's not safe to be out here in the streets on your own. Come with me." He reached out a hand to her. She contemplated whether she should take it.

_I'd rather be in a house than out here_, she thought, finalising her decision.

She placed her palm on his, and they felt an electric feeling. She carefully sat down on the soft, comfy seat, right next to him. She embraced the warmth in the car after the cold from outside. She placed Manami on her lap and the worn out cat curled up and slept. The boy told the driver to head home.

As the car started up, the boy asked Beatrice, "What's your name?" She wasn't sure if she could tell him. Could she trust him? She just met him. But he was nice, she could tell if people were nice.

"Beatrice."

"Beatrice," the boy repeated, smiling kindly. "It's nice."

"Anyway, my name is Tobias Eaton, son of Marcus Eaton, the mayor here," he explained with pride.

"Tobias," Beatrice repeated his name, just like Tobias did hers. "I like it." He grinned at the compliment. "Thanks. Beatrice isn't that bad too. It should be something else, though."

They paused for a while, thinking. She liked Beatrice, at the same time didn't. It was too... Innocent. Too... Not fierce. She wanted a name that was fierce.

"So, Bea—TRIS! OW!" He exclaimed as she touched his arm. She cried out too. Manami jolted awake by the sounds.

Static.**(This was a very annoying problem when I went to China. Everytime we touched a metal/wood object we would get static, very painful static. It was so bad I didn't dare touch anything metal or wood, and that included the tap from the sink .-.)**

_Stupid static._

"I HATE YOU STATIC!" Beatrice yelled. People walking on the pavements outside stared at the girl as if she were crazy. Maybe she was. Then she laughed. Tobias looked at her before laughing himself.

"Don't scream that loud, it's freaking embarrassing!" He scolded half-heartedly.

Beatrice gasped, "You used the word 'freaking'!"

He stuck his tongue out at her, and she giggled. She had known this boy for only—what—ten minutes? And they were acting like old friends.

"Wait," she sat up straight. "How did you say my name when we got the static?"

"Bea, and then Tris. Why?" He asked, confused.

"Call me Tris!" She squealed excitedly.

Tobias took out a phone and pretended to dial a number. "Hello? Me Tris? Yes, Beatrice asked me to call you!" She slapped his arm playfully. "That's not what I meant, you dumbbutt!"**(That's what my awesome friend says, dumbbutt xD)**

"Beatrice!" He pretended to be hurt and placed his hand on his heart. He did a fake sob and said, "You just called me a _dumbbutt_!"

"Because you _ARE_ a dumbbutt, dumbbutt!"

"No, I'm _not_!"

"Yes you _are_!" She said through laughter.

"I am _not_, you dumbbutt!" Manami shifted uncomfortably. She just wanted some damned peace and quiet.

"_I'm_ not the dumbbutt, _you_ are!"

"That's it!" Tobias exclaimed. He tackled the girl to the floor of the car, and she squealed in surprise and fun. The cat managed to jump out of the way. Tobias and Tris started to tickle each other, her trapped below him. The driver in front looked at them from the rearview mirror and smiled at their tickle fight before turning his fullest attention to the road again.

All of a sudden,Tobias accidentally moved the coat off her shoulders, and she lay before him, in _just_ her underwear. He blushed at the sight and immediately looked away. Tris blushed too. He wrapped the coat around her, and used his belt to make sure is wouldn't fall off again.

"Tobias, your pants would fall off, and everyone will see your undies," she said worriedly. He sniggered at her statement and said that it was just a formality to wear a belt.

"Plus," he grinned, "wouldn't _your_ coat fall off and everyone will see _you_ in _your_ undies?" She turned red at this, knowing he was right. As much as she wished she wasn't, she was selfish, and would rather have the belt for herself.

A few minutes later, they stopped in front of a huge and fancy mansion. Surrounding it were brick walls, with neatly trimmed ivy crawling all over them. There was a silver plaque with gold outlining. On it were the words "EATON RESIDENCE" in gold.

A black gate with fancy patterns on it opened inwards, allowing the car to park inside. Then the gate closed. Manami stood on her hind legs on Tris' legs, and placed her front paws on the window of the vehicle. She was curious to know what was outside.

Tris marvelled at the gigantic house. It was built of brick. Huge, maybe four stories high!

Tobias swung open the car door and held his hand out for her. "Milady," he said in a very well-mastered British accent as he bowed. She laughed, and played along with the whole medieval act.

"Thank you, kind sir," she replied as she took his hand and then curtsied to him. She didn't _actually_ spread the coat out, for obvious reasons. She might just flash her undies to him _again_.

Manami got off on her own, and Tris carried her. She purred, begging her owner to stroke her. Tris did just that.

Tobias stared at Tris, and she stared at him. It wasn't a death stare, no. It was a stare of friendship. She wished it could be even more, though. He did too. They were both too afraid to admit it.

He felt the staring was getting quite awkward. To stop the awkwardness, he shoved her playfully before shouting, "RACE YOU!" And then he ran off into the front door of the house.

"HEY! NO FAIR!" Tris stomped her foot in mock frustration. She chased after him, trying to catch up.

The house was so big, and he was so fast! She simply was unable to keep up.

"WAIT!" She called after him. He thought it was just a trick to get him to lose. His competitive side won over his thoughtful side, which told him to slow down as she was unfamiliar with his home. With a sudden burst of energy, he ran even faster.

Not long after, she lost sight of him. As she paused to catch her breath, she took note of her surroundings. She was in a huge room. A large hallway, to be exact. It had marble walls and teak doors along it.

She confused, and quite scared. Where did he go? He was her only guide. Only Manami was there with her.

A loud creak disrupted her thoughts. She turned in the direction of the sound to see an elegant lady, dressed in a red dress with a grey coat, and a black necklace. She had brown, wavy, hair that went slightly below the shoulders.

_Who was she?_

**Alrighty, I wanted to write a special Christmas fanfic, but I realised my story idea was too long :p So I'll update it soon. Apologies for not updating Déjà Vu, I had no time since I had to spend time with my family and went overseas, meaning no WiFi :(**

**Who do you think is this mysterious young lady? The description are hints, by the way.**

**Please review, maybe a follow and a favourite?**

**Ugh, my eyes burn from typing on my phone too much -.-**

**Merry Christmas/Trismas, Initiates! :DDD**

**Nyaning in the Fear Landscape**

**~~Divergent Kitty (=^w^=)**


	2. Cake, Beds, and Flowers

**Hey guys! So finally I updated this yay! X3 Prepare Uranus for FourTris adorableness.**

**Yes Uranus.**

**Uri: How about URI-ANUS?**

**Me: *throws pillow at Uri***

**Uri: OKAY OKAY I'LL STOP MAKING PUNS AND DO DISCLAIMERS! Divergent Kitty doesn't own Divergent. Even though she is a cat girl who is Divergent.**

**Me: Mind blowing!**

**Uri: I'll stop making puns, but now I will do the dance.**

**Me: Oh God don't do the dance.**

**Uri: *does the dance***

**Me: Why did they have to show Evan Almighty on Good Friday?!**

**Jk I love Evan Almighty xD Okay this A/N is getting hella long, let's get on to what you lot have been waiting for.**

_A loud creak disrupted her thoughts. She turned in the direction of the sound to see an elegant lady, dressed in a red dress with a grey coat, and a black necklace. She had brown, wavy, hair that went slightly below the shoulders._

_Who was she?_

The lady stopped at the sight of the dishevelled young girl. She stared at her curiously. Something about this girl was putting her off.

Oh.

She was wearing Tobias' coat.

The lady cleared her throat. "I have never seen you before. Who are you? Why is there a stray cat here? And why do you have my son's coat?"

Tris took a moment to wrap her head around this. Tobias' mother. How could she not have noticed that they looked so alike? Except she looked really young, like she was in her late twenties.

"Umm... He lent it to me," she answered. "And this isn't a stray, she's a pet." This was all true. Yet she felt she was caught doing something wrong. It wasn't wrong, was it?

She was technically invited into the house by Tobias. And she lost him.

His mother frowned, "Are you his friend? I have never seen you before."

Tris bit her lip. She was sure she was his friend. Although they had only known each other for about 10 minutes. He treated her like a friend.

"I'm not sure if I am considered his friend already, ma'am. I mean, I have just met him, but—"

"Wait," she cut her off, "so you two just met?" Tris nodded, unsure if she should have told her the truth at all.

"He brought me here, and then started a game of tag with me. He ran in here. I was unable to keep up with him, so I'm not sure where he has gone. I swear, I would not dare step into your house without permission."

She felt the need to speak formally. If this were medieval times, she was sure Tobias' mother would be the queen. She looked the part.

His mother sighed, and shook her head. "I'll get him for you, young girl." She walked off to who knows where.

As Tris waited, she could not shake off the feeling that something was odd with his mother. It was quite warm in there, but she was wearing an oversized, long-sleeved coat.

A sharp echo snapped her out of her thoughts. "Tobias! Come out here, young man!"

Even when she shouted, her voice was smooth, elegant.

Tris soon heard the pitter-patter of feet running. She looked up to see Tobias' charming grin. How could she not grin back?

He greeted her, "Hey, Tris."

"Hi, Tobias!"

He introduced her to his mother, and her to Tris. His mother's name was Evelyn. Evelyn Johnson.

"Mom, I want to bring Tris around the house, if that's okay with you."

Evelyn smiled fondly at him before whispering, "Go crazy."

He grinned and grasped Tris' hand and ran. Just before they turned the corner, they heard Evelyn shout.

"Don't eat any more of the chocolate cake, Tobias!"

He groaned, and Tris had to stifle a laugh. When they were quite a distance away from his mother, he whispered in her ear, "Don't tell her."

She giggled and said, "Okie dokie!"

He showed her around to many of the rooms in the house.

When they were about to pass by the study, he told her to be quiet. He knocked on the door and a man opened it. He looked like Tobias, except much sterner. "Father, I'd like you to meet Beatrice," he said as he brought Tris to his side. "Beatrice, this is Marcus, my father."

She smiled at Marcus. He gave a tight smile back. And then shut the door.

She was glad he shut the door. He was quite intimidating, someone she would not dare to mess with.

As they continued on their tour, she asked him, "Is he always like that?"

Tobias nodded grimly. "Sometimes, he could be worse." Tris decided not to push the matter.

A few rooms down, near the staircase, a smell wafted through the air. She breathed in deeply, and let out a satisfied sigh. "Is that—cake, I smell?" Tobias nodded excitedly. "Come on!" He sat her on the wide banister, and her eyes widened. "Tobias—"

"Trust me, Tris. You'll love it," he pushed her down, and started running alongside her. She shrieked loudly, but out of fun. She clutched Manami tightly.

As she reached the end, Tobias caught her in his arms. She squealed, and started giggling.

He carried her princess style to the source of the smell. It was like she didn't even weigh anything!

_Maybe he's just too strong_, she thought as she snuggled her head into the crook of his neck.

_Mmm... He's so warm..._

As soon as they entered the kitchen, he proceeded to put her down, but she wrapped her arms around his neck, the back of her head against his chest, his heart.

"Don't put me down, you're too comfy," she pouted as she held on tighter. He sighed, and his the side of his mouth twitched upward. Tris was cute like this.

_Far_ too cute.

With one entire arm supporting her upper legs and lower back, the other supporting her upper back, that hand being free, he managed to grab the last slice of chocolate cake from the fridge. He kicked the fridge door shut with his foot.

There was another cake about to be baked, so they could finish this one slice.

He sat down at the little table in the centre of the kitchen, still carrying her.

She shifted, so that he would be in a more comfortable sitting position. So she ended up sitting in _his_ lap, with Manami in _her_ lap.**(lapception xD)** She stared curiously at the slice placed in front of her.

His hands reached out and tore off a bite-sized chunk for Tris to eat. She ate it off his fingers, which had chocolate crumbs on them. She munched slowly, taking in the solid piece of deliciousness. Closing her eyes and leaning back against Tobias, she moaned in appreciation.

"More..." She said dreamily. He chuckled and fed her another chunk. Manami meowed, and climbed onto the table. She was fed a crumb. This went on for about three more times, and then Tris took one chunk herself and turned around on his lap.

She put in his mouth the piece she had taken, and he closed his eyes. She fed him the rest of the cake.

As they went to the sink to wash their hands, he told her, "It's official. You're my favourite person in the world."

"Just because I gave you the rest of the cake?"

He nodded.

She laughed and hugged him, her hands dripping water onto the back of his shirt. He was shocked. He was never hugged by a girl who was not his family.

"Thank you, Tobias, for being considered your favourite person." She sighed. "I have never been anyone's favourite person before."

"Well," he said, lifting her head up towards his face. "I'm glad to be the first." He hugged her back.

After releasing each other, he realised the back of his shirt had a huge wet spot on it. Hers had one too.

She exclaimed, "Look! We're twins!"

He laughed as he held her hand again and brought her to the garden.

She marvelled at the beauty of nature. White, everywhere, snow on the branches of the trees. The grass crinkled beneath her feet, because of the frost. The kitten sniffed at the ice in front of her.

Although there wasn't much colour besides white and brown, it was beautiful. A winter wonderland, if you will.

In the midst of the white, colourful flowers danced in the middle of the garden. She couldn't believe her eyes. Flowers? In winter?

"Those are hellebores," he told her. "My mother loves them because they only flower during this season. They are also known as Christmas roses."

She walked closer to them, looking at all the different coloured flowers mixed with each other. They weren't in a cluster of the same colour, somehow.

It was beautiful.

"Did she plant them?" She asked as she brushed off a bit of snow from one of the petals. He nodded. "They aren't supposed to be like this, all the colours mixing, but Mother believed that all of us shouldn't be in groups of our own, shutting others out. She believed all of us should have equality, the freedom to be with others not like us."

There were blue hellebores, red and yellow hellebores, grey hellebores, black and white hellebores, and black hellebores.

"Black flowers?" She asked with amazement.

He chuckled, "Not exactly. It's more of a really dark purple. And those black and white ones are actually hybrids. The black part is actually just really dark purple. And the grey is more specifically slaty grey."

"You're confusing me," she said. Then she turned back to the flowers. "I just wanna admire them."

They were all really pretty, but the one colour that caught her eye was black, or as he said, "really dark purple". She gently stroked a black hellebore's petal.

He noticed that she was paying special attention to that one colour. He found one hellebore exactly the same, except it was on the ground.

He picked it off the cold grass, and turned her around. He tucked her hair behind her right ear, and placed the flower there.

"You look really pretty," Tobias complimented her. Tris blushed shyly and looked down, subconsciously rubbing her right arm. Manami pawed at her leg, and Tris picked her up.

The two children stared at each other in a comfortable silence.

If they had been older, this would have been the perfect moment for a first kiss. But since she was 8 and he was 10, they didn't really know what a first kiss really was. Well, it was only Tris who didn't know. Tobias knew that it existed because of his friends. But the main idea was that they did not know how 'sacred' it would be to them in the future.

"Come on," he told her, "I haven't showed you my room yet!"

They ran up to the third floor, laughter filling the air. Once they reached his room, he opened the door dramatically and swept his right arm out.

"Welcome to my awesomely awesome room of awesomeness!" He exclaimed. The only thing she could do was gasp in amazement.

There was a giant pool in front of her! Not as in a pool built in the third floor that one could get in from his room, no. It could only be accessed via the roof!

There was no need for a lot of lights in there, for the sunlight streamed through the transparent walls of the pool. The wide walkways surrounding it was actually the room itself!**(It is actually based on the house I built in Sims 4 after they added pools)**

There was a huge and circular canopy king-sized bed with dark blue drapes, and the bed covers and bed sheet were black. His pillows were fluffy and silvery grey.

There was a golden crystal chandelier that was part of the bed itself, hanging from the ceiling of the canopy bed.

Lots of action figures were on the shelves. A Batman figure stood next to a Gundam model, a Kuroko, Chopper, and Naruto figurine, as well as a lot of other Japanese anime figurines. There was a modern black desk with the latest model computer on it.

A large screen TV was on the transparent wall in front of the bed.

This was the epitome of luxury.

Tris wasn't sure if Marcus Eaton was just a mayor or some important member of the government.

He might as well be the president!

"Wow," was all she could say. She ran to the bed and laid down on it.

"It feels like it's made of fluffy clouds," she sighed.

Manami jumped out of her hands and walked around on the bed. She found a spot to call her own and snuggled into it.

Tobias walked toward his wardrobe, digging through it. He groaned, before yelling loudly, "CHRIS!"

A very tanned girl appeared at the door. She had short brown hair, and a wicked grin. She was sporting a stripy black and white tank top, with a pair of mini shorts. "Yeah? Whatcha' want, bruh?"

"Give me one of your shirts and one of your pairs of pants. And make sure those are _long-sleeved_," he told her. The tanned girl raised an eyebrow. He tilted his head toward his bed, and her jaw dropped.

Tris was already sleeping. Who could blame her? The bed was just too comfortable.

"A GIRL?!"

"Shut up, Christina!" He hissed. The tanned girl, Christina, shook her head.

"No. Way. You got a girl, bro! A GIRL! And she seems nice," she commented. He shoved her.

"Just grab something," he said in annoyance. She stuck her tongue out and left the room.

As soon as she was gone, he leaned against the headboard of his bed. Suddenly, he felt Tris grab his leg. He almost jumped in surprise, and she hugged his leg even tighter, not willing to let go.

Tobias sighed, laughing a bit to himself, as she snuggled into his leg.

**D'aww, FourTris as kids :3 WERE YOU ABLE TO RESIST 'Aww...'ing IN THIS WHOLE CHAPTER BECAUSE I COULDN'T AND I'M THE FREAKING AUTHOR.**

**Fair warning: There's more adorable kid FourTris moments to come! ;)**

**Please don't be afraid to review, if it's something funny or serious, constructive criticism is always appreciated and so are hilarious, ridiculous reviews that make no sense at all. You could even review something like "OMFG CAAAKKKEEEEEE" And I wouldn't mind at all. I always love a good laugh! :D**

**Also for those wondering about my update schedule, here's a rough idea: Déjà Vu every two weeks and AGOL every other two weeks. Around there, I have no specific schedule.**

**Nyaning in the Fear Landscape**

**~~Divergent Kitty (=^w^=)**


	3. Swimming, Clothes, and Denial

**Sorry for the long wait, been suffering a bit of writer's block lately ;-; Cri**

**Well, at least you've got an update! The most that would happen is just longer periods between updates. I will NOT put my stories on hiatus again cuz hiatus' suck. Speaking from a reader's point of view.**

**I don't own anything except for the plot. I own Manami, though.**

**Also, if you want to know what Manami looks like, I've put the link in my bio! I was scrolling through cat pics(like I always do ;)) AND I FOUND THIS ADORABLE LITTLE KITTY AAHHH SO CUTE**

**Okay back to the story! :D**

_As soon as she was gone, he leaned against the headboard of his bed. Suddenly, he felt Tris grab his leg. He almost jumped in surprise, and she hugged his leg even tighter, not willing to let go._

_Tobias sighed, laughing a bit to himself, as she snuggled into his leg._

A few minutes later, Christina came back with a few items of clothing in her hands. Upon sensing her presence, Manami hissed at her as she went closer. She stopped in her tracks and stared at the little cat, alarmed.

Tobias stroked her fur, telling her that Chris was no enemy, and she stopped glaring. Her protective stance turned into one of wonder. She walked around her, debating whether she was a friend or foe. Then she rubbed herself against her legs. Christina sighed in relief.

"Aw, is Kwissy Wissy afwaid of a cute wittle kitty?" Tobias asks playfully, pouting his bottom lip out. She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him.

She tossed him the pile of clothes and he caught them perfectly, not letting any item of clothing drop. He placed them neatly on the bed.

She left before he could say anything. She didn't even give him a chance to thank her. However, he _did_ catch sight of her heading down the stairs. On her phone. Texting. With a huge grin on her face.

Typical Christina. Always getting distracted by her phone, always texting. But she never ever had that kind of expression, unless it was a boy.

He shook his head, finding the situation funny, yet still wanting to find whoever she was talking to and find out what he was like. His 'overprotective older brother' side was coming out.

Manami stared curiously at the pile of clothes. Tobias didn't bother examining them. Right then, what he wanted to do was swim. He was a good swimmer.

The pool had heaters, stopping it from turning to ice out in the cold. He wasn't stupid enough to swim in a freezing cold pool, even though he often had death wishes, according to his obnoxious sister. He changed quickly into a one-piece swimsuit, and walked, or rather ran, up the stairs to the roof.

As soon as he stepped out onto the wooden floorboards, he was welcomed by the cold wind blasting in face. He quickly jumped into the pool with a splash.

The warmth from the water seeped through his skin, and he sighed, steadying himself a bit against the transparent walls of the pool. And then, he used his legs to push himself off the wall.

He began to swim laps, to and fro, to and fro. Then he took a rest on the built in seat.

He stared longingly at the floor of the pool. He wanted to reach the bottom, wanted to maybe even sit at the bottom. But for many years he had proved unsuccessful.

This time though, he would do it.

He sucked in a deep breath, and jumped off the seat. He dived down, using his arms to push himself closer to the floor.

_Kick, push, kick, push._ It was a chant in his head. He was almost three quarters there! He focused hard. He could not let anything distract him. Especially not Tris.

_Tris._

As soon as he thought of her, he lost control.

_Crap, crap, crap!_ He accidentally breathed in some water, and started choking. However, he still tried his best to touch the bottom but he missed it. Not even just a skim of his fingertips. He got back up to the surface quite ridiculously.

"That'll be... Enough, Toby," he mumbled to himself, gasping for air. He clambered out of the water and ran down the stairs, water dripping everywhere. Pretty soon it would all turn to ice.

The first thing he registered was Tris' wide eyes. Staring at him.

"What?" He asked. "Do I have a frog on my face?"

She nodded her head. "Yes! You have to get rid of it! Oh wait." She paused. "That's just your face. My apologies."

He shot her a glare but it disappeared as fast as it came. It was replaced by a frown.

Clutching his arms, he shut his eyes tight. Trying to keep warm.

She hopped off the bed, dragging the thick comforter behind her. She immediately hugged him from behind while wrapping it around their small frames.

"Thank you," he said gratefully. She smiled and tightened her arms around him.

"You're welcome."

A sweet feeling filled Tobias' heart. Tris was kind. Nice. Friendly. Funny. Adorable. He liked her. But not in that way. Or did he?

_Admit it, you like Tris._

No I do not! He argued back with his mind.

_Yes you do!_

No I don't!

_C'mon, would I deny me?_

I just met her today!

A giggle snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned his head to see her looking at his ear.

"What are doing?" He asked. She giggled again. "Oh nothing, just that your ear is like a juicy red apple!"

Oh. He had been blushing. He blushed more when he came to the realisation that she was watching him.

"Your ears are really cute when they are like a juicy red apple."

He blushed even harder, and slowly peeled her arms away from him. He immediately felt cold, and it was not just because of the temperature. He walked to his wardrobe and grabbed a simple, plain grey shirt with some grey pants. Both were oversized. However, that was the only size available for him, so what choice did he have?

As he took off the swimsuit in the bathroom, he examined the various red marks and scratches on his back. They were starting to hurt, probably because he pushed himself too hard when he swam.

The marks were a secret, kept between him and Marcus. His mother didn't know, neither did his sister. He didn't dare tell them. Why?

One: If he did, that would earn him even more scratches from Marcus.

Two: He definitely did not want any sympathy.

Three: Getting caned hard on the back often was a normal punishment for kids... Right?

After putting on the baggy clothes, he walked out to see Tris looking at the shirt and skirt on the bed, her cat curled up on her lap. She wrinkled her nose at them.

"What is this?" She asked, gesturing to the clothes. Tobias sighed. Stupid little sister.

"That," he pointed to the 'shirt', "is a scoop neck shirt." It was too big for her, it was obvious. She and Chris' sizes weren't exactly the same. "And that, is a mini skirt."

She nodded slowly, clearly disgusted. He didn't blame her, he was grossed out by Christina's fashion sense as well.

It was obvious she wouldn't fit into the clothes. They were too big for her. The shirt would fit perfectly for her since it hugs Chris' torso tightly and Tris is smaller than her. However, it was a scoop neck so it would reveal a bit more skin near the chest area. He tried not to imagine her in it, having a lot of skin being shown. Unfortunately, he was a ten year old boy and did not have such an innocent mind like many thought.

The mini skirt would not be so 'mini' for her, and that was okay. Unfortunately, it didn't look like it could hang nicely on her hips, just like any skirt would. It would probably slide down her legs if she were to wear it. He could not let her wear his belt, it would look weird. If there were only a solution to the problem...

Ah, he knew what to do, and that was hand the clothes to one of the servants. Let her alter it, and hand it back. But who?

Perhaps Hana Pedrad! Yes, he should get her to adjust the clothing to fit Tris' size. Plus, he loved Hana. She was like an aunt to him. What made everything even better was the fact that her two sons were his best friends. Or rather his only friends. He was closer to Zeke Pedrad than he was to his brother, Uriah.

Hana was one of the only servants he liked. Another was Alison Arden**(I hope this name and last name is okay, I was thinking of random names and *POOF* This name appeared!)** with her three children, Shauna, Lynn, and Hector.

All the kids mentioned above were the same age as Tobias, with the exception of Uriah, Lynn, and Hector. Uri and Lynn were 8 years old while Hec was a little toddler. However, he almost never saw the girls. They very rarely came to visit their mom at work.

He took the clothes from Tris and ran off, leaving the girl dumbfounded. He went down to the first floor, where Hana's room was. He knocked on the door and she opened it, smiling fondly. Then he saw the two boys fooling around in the room, and grinned.

**Yay! The Pedrads are finally mentioned! :3**

**And if you are worried that this story would be unrealistic in the sense of Tobias' and Tris' relationship, don't worry! They won't immediately fall in love or anything! Love takes time and for kids, it takes a LOT of time. Tobias is in a bit of a denial about his feelings toward her so yeah, bear with that denial for the next bajillion chapters. :P Just kidding. The fluff will come, but not so soon.**

**While waiting, enjoy the innocent adorableness of FourTris as kids. :3**

**Also again, please review, even if it's gibberish(maybe I can understand it lol) or whatever! Again, try to make me laugh! I'm pretty laughable so yeah. Love me a good joke.**

**Nyaning in the Fear Landscape**

**~~Divergent Kitty (=^w^=)**


	4. Pedrads, Rumours, and Vows

**Apologies for the long update. I haven't had much time to write these past couple of weeks.**

**Hopefully you lot will enjoy this chapter! Also, there's an important clarification for this fanfiction at the end of the chapter.**

**Now, do I own Divergent, Uriah?**

**Uri: Nopeez, big sister Trisara!**

***laughs* YOU'RE SO FREAKING CUTE, LITTLE URIAH! *pinches eight year old Uri's cheeks***

**Uri: *struggles***

_He took the clothes from Tris and ran off, leaving the girl dumbfounded. He went down to the first floor, where Hana's room was. He knocked on the door and she opened it, smiling fondly. Then he saw the two boys fooling around in the room, and grinned._

"Totoro!" The slightly taller boy called out. Tobias rolled his eyes and shoved him playfully.

"Stop calling me a fat bundle of adorableness!" He chuckled.

"Not my fault that you're such a freaking otaku!"

"Zeke! Your little brother is here, set an example, mind your language!" Hana chastised him.

"Thousand apologies," Zeke said in a stereotypical Indian accent, bobbing his head. Hana saw that coming and smiled. She often showed her kids the old TV series, Mind Your Language. One of their favourite characters was Ranjeet. Oh, and of course they loved Ali. So much.**(I LOVE MIND YOUR LANGUAGE LIKE YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW! WHO ELSE LOVES THAT SHOW?)**

The clothes in Tobias' hands caught the younger boy's eye. He recognised them to be for the opposite gender. He sniggered.

Tobias turned to him, the corners of his mouth turning upward. "Yes, Uriah, what is it?" He ruffled the eight year old boy's hair.

"Why are you gonna wear girly dresses?" He pointed at Tobias' hands, still giggling away. Zeke opened his mouth to answer but Tobias shot him a death glare before he could say anything. Thankfully he got the message.

Hana's ears perked up when she heard her youngest son speak. "Clothes for a girl? You _do_ know that you should just ask Christina to bring her dresses here on her own, if not she'd be more spoilt than she already is."

Tobias shook his head. "Technically these do belong to Chris, well, _did_ belong to her. I found a poor girl out in the streets, almost raped, and she's resting up there in my room right now. I asked Christina to bring her least revealing tops and bottoms and this was what she gave me."

Hana couldn't help it, she laughed. 'Least revealing' in Christina's standards, was considered a tight tank top and very short skirt. "So you want me to alter these?"

"Yes, Hana, to fit her size. Tris is quite small."

"Well! How in the world do you expect me to alter them without knowing the actual size and measurements for this girl, Tris, hmm?" She asked cheekily. His ears turned slightly red. Zeke burst out laughing.

"I forgot! I'll, uh, bring her down here," Tobias stuttered, embarrassed, as he let himself out.

He ran up the stairs swiftly, and nearly knocked into a blonde haired girl who was of his age.

"Shauna!"

"Heyo! Where's Zeke? I can't find him."

He tried to conceal his knowing smirk, but failed. Of course the first thing she would ask him would be Zeke's whereabouts.

_Of course._

He always suspected that she had a crush on Zeke, and likewise for him. Zeke actually told him that he did like her. Shauna had not told him anything about it because he was not trustworthy enough for Shauna, yet. He would gain her trust one day, and it wasn't that far. They were really close.

She was the very responsible, awesome, not-so-girly sister he never had! She was not obsessed with guys(except for Zeke) and she absolutely despised shopping.

"What are you smiling about?" She asked nervously. He laughed. "You wanted to know where Zeke is."

Her cheeks immediately turned red. "No! I don't like him, for the last time, Tobias!"

"You're red."

"Because you accused me of liking that stupid idiot."

"I didn't," he replied flatly. It was only then Shauna realised what he said was true. It was her own self, who assumed that he assumed she liked Zeke. Which added to the list of evidence Tobias had that she liked Zeke in the first place.

"I don't like him!" She said stubbornly. However, in her heart, she knew those words weren't true. She liked him. _A_ _lot_. She was afraid to admit it out loud.

She had not told anyone about who her crush was. Only rumours circulated. There were many ship worthy moments between them. Like when Zeke lost a bet and had to say "I love you" to her.**(This actually happened to me, about the rumours and the bet. The first time someone non-family said that to me, and it wasn't even real and he was actually a total dickhead. And traitor. Yes his name is Caleb. Still feel like stabbing him in the eye with a mudderducking butter knife. OKAY SORRY TO INTERRUPT YOUR READING)** Even though he was just saying things, she hoped what he said was true.

She was only ten years old. Could one fall in love at age ten? Possibly. Hopefully. She read a fact that if a person likes another for more than four months, that means they're in love with that person.**(Ew I was in love with that traitorous douchebag Caleb SORRY FOR MY MINI RANT O.O)** She had known Zeke for years, and liked him. Hell to whoever said she was not in love with him!

"Keep telling yourself that, Sha. Keep telling yourself that."

"Are you using that dumb name Zeke calls me?"

"Crap, I shouldn't have! Only he is allowed to call you whatever he wants, like 'babe'."

"Ew! Just go!" She flushed.

"I'm sure that's what you'd say in the future when you and Zeke are adults, because he is afraid of hurting you, you know, just before you lose your—"

"GO!" She yelled, pushing him up the stairs, embarrassed.

Tobias laughed to himself. Zeke and Shauna, doing the deed. He was quite certain that Zeke would be _very_ open to the idea. He _was_ the source of majority of the 'that's what she said' jokes in the household, after all.

As Tobias turned round the corner at the top of the staircase, Shauna realised that she didn't get to find out where Zeke was.

"Gosh dang it!"

**~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~**

Tobias was approaching his room when he heard soft humming coming from inside. He crept stealthily toward the door, and peeked in.

Tris was curled up in a ball, leaning against the bed headboard. She was staring at her pendant, and singing softly.

"Just close your eyes

The sun is going down

You'll be alright

No one can hurt you now

Come morning light

You and I'll be safe, and,

Sound..."

A lone tear ran down her cheek as she clutched onto her pendant as if it were her lifeline. He saw the picture in her pendant, and it was only then Tobias realised it wasn't her lifeline, but her life.

Her _family_.

The poor girl didn't deserve it. She was too kind, too sweet, too innocent. How fate decided to pick on her the most, he did not know.

_He_ should have been the one to be kidnapped and stripped away from his family. He wouldn't mind, at least he wouldn't half mind. If he got away from his father, he'd be happy. It should have been him to suffer, not her.

As soon as she heard his footsteps, she used the heel of her hand to wipe away her tears. She put the pendant away and managed a smile.

"Hi."

If he had not seen her crying earlier, he would have believed that smile to be genuine.

"Hey, uh, you need to come down and see Hana for measurements."

"I know. You left before I could tell you."

As if he weren't embarrassed about his forgetfulness already.

"Yeah, uh, let's go."

"Okay!"

Her usual bubbliness seemed to be back. She walked with a skip in her step, and her voice was high. But Tobias knew sadness when he saw it.

He saw it every time he looked in the mirror.

As they approached the maids' rooms, her steps became more tentative. She looked at him, waiting for him to knock on the door.

Zeke was the one to open the door, this time. He ushered her in, and she looked at her surroundings in curiosity.

The room was definitely not as fancy as Tobias', but it had the same aura. One full of fun, joy, and laughter.

Hanging on wall were several photos of a happy family. One of them was of a bride and groom; Hana and her husband. Her late husband, sadly.

Hana was not one to stay in the past; she would always look to the future.

There were many photos with Hana, Zeke, and Uriah, but one of them caught Tris' eye.

Little Tobias, with little Zeke, and Hana holding a baby Uriah.

"Hey," Tris said, "when was this photo taken?"

Tobias and the Pedrads smiled. It was _the _photo. That very one.

"Ah, well, Tris. That was years ago, obviously. It was the day that Zeke and Tobias had first met. I had already started working here for Marcus at the time, but I never really brought my kids down to this residence." Hana gently took the photo frame down from the wall and brought it closer to Tris for her to look.

Zeke and Tobias were 'wrestling' with each other in the picture, and Toby was obviously on the winning end. Zeke grinned.

"See that? That's what happens when you mess with Tobias Eaton in a photo. I tried to do the rabbit ears thing on him, but he caught me, and this was the end result."

"Lookie! There's me, mama! There's me, there's me!" Uriah jumped up and down excitedly. Hana smiled and kissed him on the forehead.

"Yes, Uri. That's you. You were just a wee little two year old baby at that time, now look at you!" Hana pinched his cheeks.

Zeke laughed, "Yeah, _definitely_ a wee baby! You have no idea how many times mom had to change his diaper because of that yellow pee coming out of him."

Tris looked slightly irked out by that statement, and Tobias gagged.

"Ew!"

"TMI, dude."

"Sorry not sorry," Zeke shrugged. "Although I'd better not say that, because karma."

Tobias chuckled, "Yeah, I remember when you dealt a 'draw two' card in Uno and you said that, and in the end, you were the one who had to draw the most. Happened a few times in a row, definitely no coincidence." **(Fun fact: That actually happened to my bff Nadiah(another bff who went to watch Insurgent with me WHOOP) She kept saying that in the end she had to draw what—ten? Yeah around there xD KARMA BIATCH)**

"I will ignore that absolutely repulsive comment from Ezekiel, but yes, I _had_ to change Uriah's diaper _quite_ a lot last time," Hana said. Zeke groaned when his mother revealed his full name.

"See? Karma! Hana totally just embarrassed you by calling you by your actual name, _Ezekiel_." Tobias smirked. Zeke—Ezekiel—simply facepalm'd in response.

Tris giggled. Tobias' heart skipped a beat and he swore he would do anything and everything, to hear her giggle again.

Wow, he was really growing on her wasn't he.

"It's amazing, I love it," she mumbled as she gently and delicately ran her fingers over the photo frame. "You guys are all one, big, happy and joyful and complete... Family," she said sincerely, almost sadly.

A family.

Something that she was rid of.

And it was at that moment, Tobias vowed silently to himself.

To become the family Tris no longer had.

**Argh all the feels and sadness! And Tobias is so sweet... :3**

**Some of you were confused about this story cuz of my summary. My summary says they are teenagers but currently they are kids. Well, this whole time period when they are children is actually just a flashback. It'll be a flashback for a really long time, it won't go back to real life for a while. Sorry if that confused you!**

**Please review, maybe a follow and a favourite? I'm totally cool with funny and ridiculous reviews or any reviews at all cuz they always make my day. I'm always excited to read them, and reply to them.**

**I'm really approachable. Ya know, like a bed of nails. :P Just kidding, I'm actually extremely approachable. If you wanna start a random conversation, you can, I promise I'll reply to all your PMs and reviews. :3**

**Nyaning in the Fear Landscape**

**~~Divergent Kitty (=^w^=)**


	5. Senpais, Friends, and Fights

**Oh god, I feel absolutely terrible for not updating. One word as an excuse which is a terrible excuse: Procrastination. Argh I hate it.**

**Anyway, AMAZING NEWS! We have this thing in our report cards called ptcl and for example, if your ptcl is 10, that means you're one of the worst in the subject in the level. If it is around 90, you're one of the best at the subject in the level. The highest is 100.**

**Guess. What.**

**My English was 99.4, and my literature WAS 100. I'M FREAKING OUT SO BAD AAHHH! I LOVE ENGLISH AND LITERATURE SO BADLY CUZ I NEED TO BE GOOD AT THEM TO WRITE WELL AND I WANNA BE AN AUTHOR IN FUTURE AND I ALREADY LOVE THESE SUBJECTS AAHHH!**

**My other subjects were absolutely crap tho BUT I DON'T CARE I ONLY CARE ABOUT MY ENGLISH AND LITERATURE.**

**Alright, Uri. Do I own Divergent?**

**Uri: Nope! You don't, but you own Manami!**

**Uri: Trisara?**

**Hmm?**

**Uri: THINK FAST! *swings pillow at me***

***dodges***

***smacks Uri in face with the same pillow***

**Uri: OOMF!**

***laughs* IN YOUR FACE! LITERALLY!**

_And it was at that moment, Tobias vowed silently to himself._

_To become the family Tris no longer had._

Hana was the miracle worker of apparel alterations. Tris watched her work, intrigued. The precise movements of her fingers, the way the needle wove in and out of the cloth. Those were little things that got Tris' mind working.

It was a chain. Hana was focused on the clothes, Tris was focused on Hana, and Tobias...

His hands itched to touch her. He loved holding her hand. He wanted to hold them, or carry her again. At that moment, her hands were clasped in her lap. She was sitting in a very straight posture in the chair. So ladylike.

Tris was so mature, yet not. She was mature in her mannerisms. She could definitely take care of herself. And she was childish in a fun way. If one were to be stuck in a boring, dull room with nothing to do with her for a year, she would brighten things up, play games or something. And probably keep that person from going insane.

Tobias never had any crushes. Ever. He knew he was handsome. Many girls tried to get his attention. And boy, did they! They annoyed him almost to death. Definitely got his attention, alright, just not in the way the way they wanted. At least he knew they existed.

None of the girls ever caught his eye. Not even one! They might have seemed all nice and kind with the most innocent of intentions, but really, they weren't, not even close. They wanted him just because of his looks, he was sure of that. They didn't like his personality; they didn't even know it! The only thing they knew about him was his face and body. He was pretty muscular and strong for a ten year old, after all.

He was able to read people. He read that all the girls who were crushing on him only wanted him for his physical appearance. They might as well marry his face!

Tris though, he would marry both her own physical body as well as her soul. _She is so pretty, so adorable, so innocent..._

_Hold on a second._

_Since when did I decide I'd ever want to marry her?_

Tobias flushed at his thoughts.

_You're just a ten year old, she's only eight, _he scolded himself. _Stop it._

"Oh my gosh, I love it, I love it, I love it!" Tris squealed as she held up the altered shirt and skirt to her body and twirled around. She ran up to Hana and hugged her. The cheerful lady did not hesitate to hug her back. "Thank you, Hana!"

She laughed and patted the little girl's head. She smiled a closed-mouth smile, and Tobias' heart nearly stopped. Her smile was almost like the smile those cute little anime girls always wore whenever someone close to them gives them a gift. He could imagine her speaking in an adorable Japanese voice, "Arigato gozaimasu!"

Then her smile was in front of him. She hugged him too. "Thank you, Senpai!"

"Senpai?!" He exclaimed, slightly taken aback. He jerked back. Tris wore an extremely confused look on her face.

"What?"

"W-what?"

"What did you say? 'Sand pie' or something? What does that mean?"

"Uhh... I, err..." He scratched the back of his neck nervously. Great. He let his mind wander and he even thought she called him Senpai. He willed that Zeke would keep his mouth shut. _Don't say anything, Zeke. Don't say anything please. Don't. Say. Anything._

"Well..." Zeke began. Tobias groaned.

_Damn my luck._

She looked at Zeke expectantly. "Uh huh? What does it mean? It sounds like a weird and funny and cute word to say!" She scurried over to him, dragging a chair with her. She balanced her elbows on her knees, rested her chin in her hands and looked at him. "Tell me."

The urge to pinch her cheeks was too strong for Zeke. Thankfully, he suppressed that urge. Tobias also had an urge. Two urges, in fact. The first was the urge to laugh and hug her for her adorableness. The second alarmed him a little.

It was an urge to slap Zeke for being looked at by her that way.

He couldn't understand why he felt like slapping his best friend. The only time he ever wished to do that was when Zeke made a joke in school, saying that Tobias loved watching hentai. That was really low of Zeke to say that. _Really_ low. That dumb, dirty minded idiot.

Thankfully, the kids in school didn't understand what hentai meant.**(HENTAI MEANS ANIME PERVERSE STUFF. DO **_**NOT**_** LOOK IT UP. EVER.) **But still, he had felt like strangling Zeke. Or slapping him. And that was exactly what he had done that day. He had slapped him, because of embarrassment.

_This_ need to slap him though, he had no idea why he felt that way. What, was Tobias angry? Annoyed?

Jealous..?

Of a ridiculous ten year old pervert who never hands his homework up on time?

_Stupid,_ Tobias said to himself in his head. _Idiot. I'm not jealous._

But what other word could describe the chill in his stomach whenever he saw Tris looking up at Zeke with her sparkling eyes?

He ignored the fact that he did not have a huge vocabulary and also ignored the voice in his head, the one that was screaming that he didn't want her to look at Zeke, but wanted her to look at _him _instead.

"So, Senpai means senior in Japanese. As in the seniors in your school, and there has always been a joke involving the word Senpai, and it goes along the lines of Senpai notice—"

Tobias leapt into action, covering Zeke's mouth before he could say anything more. "OKAY, SO WE KNOW THE MEANING NOW! Senpai just means senior, hehe, uh, yeah," he stuttered. While his body was covering his hand, he flipped Zeke off. He shrugged as if to say 'what did I do?'

Tris gasped, "Oh my gosh! I know a Japanese word now! And it is such a fun word to say! Senpai, Senpai, Senpai!"

Zeke nudged Tobias, grinning. He had to look away to try to hide the blush in his cheeks.

She was just saying the word. She didn't know what the usual context for that word was. Nothing more.

But Tobias wished it became something more...

Goodness, did he have a crush on her already?! It had only been a day!

Not even 24 hours, in fact.

"Tris, do you like it here?" Hana asked. Tris beamed. "Of course I do! Especially Tobias' room! There are so many things to play with, his bed is so fluffy, and there is even a pool in the middle! How cool is that?!"

Tobias chuckled. "Well, someone's hyper."

She turned to him, a smile crossing her face. "That's 'cause I love this place so much! The house has really nice people! We have Hana! We have Zeke! We have Uri! We have Evelyn! And last of all, we have _you_, Toby!"

"Buuttt," Zeke said, dragging the word out, making it sound like butt and making Uriah snicker. "You haven't even met the others!"

She glanced up. "There are more really nice friends?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Hold up, I'll get them."

He ran out of the room, leaving behind two thirds of the Pedrad family, an otaku, and an excited Tris.

He came running back to the room dragging three other children behind him.

The girl he was holding onto looked exhilarated. She kept on laughing, trying to swat his hand away from her arm. It was crystal clear that she didn't want him to let go of her, though.

She had a younger girl in a vice like grip behind her. She did not look like someone you would want to mess with. Her hair was in a messy ponytail and she was wearing a jersey with the name Lynn on the back.**(There's a reason why Lynn has long hair, it will be quite important to the plot. You'll see!)**

That girl was dragging another boy along by grabbing his shirt collar. If the girl before him was scary, this boy was even more intimidating!

"Tris," Zeke panted, out of breath. "Meet Shauna, Lynn, Eric..."

At that moment, a teenage girl ran in. Her hair was black with several different colour streaks. Red, blue, purple, and white.

"And Lauren."

She grinned, waving as she strode in. "Hi guys! Afternoon, Hana."

"Good afternoon to you too, Lauren," Hana greeted.

Eric tried to pry Lynn's fingers away from his shirt. "Ow! Your grip is as strong as iron, Lynn! Let go!" He scowled.

She raised one eyebrow, indifferent. She let him struggle and try to run away from her before suddenly letting go, making him lose his balance. He didn't fall, somehow.

"Dang it! It worked last time!" She cried out in frustration. She grabbed a cushion and hurled it at him. He dodged it easily, and the cushion hit Zeke in the face instead.

"Oomf."

Shauna patted Lynn on the back. "At least that good and powerful throw didn't go to waste. Good job, sis!" She laughed.

Lynn stood, arms akimbo, looking smug.

Zeke picked up the cushion and handed it to Shauna with a pout. "You hurt my feelings, Sha. I thought you were my gir-best friend!"

How he nearly said 'girlfriend' did not go unnoticed by Tobias. The urge to scream out that his best friend had an affection for Shauna was extremely strong. He was surprised that he managed to restrain himself and keep his mouth shut.

Shauna rolled her eyes. "I _am_ your best friend, always will be! I was just indirectly telling Lynn that her arm is strong."

Tobias almost laughed out loud. Upon hearing her proclamation that she is his "best friend, always will be", Zeke's face fell. "Always" meant nothing less, nothing more, forever just the same.

Tobias couldn't help it. He couldn't hold it in anymore! He whispered loudly in a sing-song voice, "Friendzoned..."

Zeke looked back at him to shoot him a glare and then turned back to face Shauna.

Shauna being, well, Shauna, took that as an opportunity to pull something on him.

As he turned around, the first thing he registered was the cushion striking his side, and he was knocked to the ground.

"WHAT THE—OOF!"

Everyone burst out laughing, Shauna laughing the hardest. Even Manami seemed to be laughing!

Zeke huffed and then yanked on Shauna's leg, dragging to the ground. She squealed, before getting hit in the face with the cushion.

They fought over the coveted 'weapon', wanting to get their hands on it. In the end, she got possession of it and used it to whack him.

He groaned. He didn't have anything to protect himself, or to defend himself!

Uriah whistled—how was he able to whistle at such a young age?—to get his older brother's attention. He threw him a pillow from the couch.

"Thanks, Uri!" Zeke said with gratitude, holding his 'weapon'. He blocked a blow delivered by Shauna using the pillow.

While all this was going on, Lynn discreetly grabbed a cushion and stealthily crept behind Shauna. Her sneak attack caught her older sister by surprise. She shrieked and hit her back.

This had turned into a brutal pillow fight by then. Everyone had joined in, except for Hana, who was too busy laughing. Even Tris had joined in!

It was a jumble of limbs. Everyone was shrieking and giggling and trying to gain the upper hand in the fight. Zeke smacked Shauna on the butt and her cheeks burned.(But only Tobias seemed to notice... As usual.)

Tris thought that if eating chocolate cake, sleeping on clouds and awesome pillow wars was the life here...

She _definitely _wanted to get used to it.

**So everyone is basically good friends with Tobias, even Eric! Will I make him evil? Will I make him good? Tbh I think he deserves a chance cuz he is too evil in the book.**

**Should I make Eric evil or nawh? And what do you think Lynn's hair has to do with the story? What would her story be that involves her hair? Leave your creative responses in the comment section BELOOOWWWW or on facebook twitter or google plus! :P Seriously tho. Just leave a review, I love reading your reviews :3**

**Okay I should probably end off my A/N here cuz it's like 2.30am where I am and I really need to pee halp**

**Nyaning in the Fear Landscape**

**~~Divergent Kitty (=^w^=)**


	6. Sims, Brothers, and Dinners

**Yay I updated on time! I think. I'm literally typing this while sitting on the toilet(not actually pooping or anything btw) BECAUSE I NEED TO UPDATE AND MY MOM IS SLEEPING AND IF SHE CATCHES ME OH CRAP I'M DOOMED CUZ IT'S LIKE 12AM AND EVEN THO IT'S THE HOLIDAYS SHE'LL SCREAM AT ME AND CALL ME A PHONE ADDICT ARGH**

**Side note: Have you ever been in that moment when your mom is like "You should read some other books and increase your reading genre knowledge instead of just Divergent!" And you're like "Bish puh-leeeeeeaaaassseeeeeee I AM reading other genres of books!" I don't mention that they are fanfictions doe, I just say they are "unofficial books that I read online." So very true doe xD**

**Uriah, do the disclaimer.**

**Uri: Nah, I'm too lazy.**

**URIAH JEREMIAH PEDRAD YOU EITHER DO THE DAMNED DISCLAIMER OR DO MY MANDARIN HOMEWORK.**

**Uri: OKAYDIVERGENTKITTYDOESN'TOWNANYTHINGEXCEPTFORTHEPLOTANDMANAMIOHGAWDDON'TMAKEMEDOYOURMANDARINHOMEWORK.**

**Thank you. (Idk why I decided to make his name Uriah Jeremiah Pedrad. I think it has a nice ring to it xD**

_Tris thought that if eating chocolate cake, sleeping on clouds and awesome pillow wars was the life here..._

_She definitely wanted to get used to it._

After an hour of the pillow fight, Tris was really exhausted.

What a long day. First she was kidnapped, then Tobias saved her from getting raped, followed by loads of fun.

Tris was beyond blessed. She was saved by a kind, charming, funny young boy, then brought into the safety and comfort of his home with great company.

It had been hours since they first met, and they had already been treating each other like old friends.

"Hey," Tobias said, standing beside her. She hummed softly, acknowledging his presence as she continued to examine the action figures on his desk. He dragged a chair along with him and sat in it backwards. He rested his arms on the backrest of the chair, tilting his head to watch as she squinted her eyes at the Iron Man collectible.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. Finally, he decided to initiate conversation.

"It's going to be dinner soon."

"Oh."

"So... You want to eat with my family, or just me?"

She paused her actions, pondering. She looked down guiltily and bit her lip. "I'd love to eat with your family. Your mom is a really nice lady, but your father..."

"He frightens you, doesn't he."

She hesitated before nodding slightly, like she was hoping he didn't catch the movement. He understood why she did that. She was afraid of how he might have responded.

He smiled kindly. "Don't worry, I'm afraid of him too."

Upon hearing this, she snapped up. "Really?"

"Mmhmm," he replied. "More terrified than you could imagine."

"Do you usually eat with your parents?"

He shrugged, "Only for important occasions, like when we have guests over. Most of the time I eat in my room."

"All by yourself?"

"Not all the time, even though Christina always eats with my parents. Zeke comes up here to eat with me." His lips curled up in a smile as he thought of all the fun things they had done during dinner that earned them a scolding. Only a scolding from Evelyn and Hana, of course. Marcus knew nothing about it. If he did, those would not be happy memories.

Tris gave him a knowing look. "Zeke must be really fun and messy during meals."

Tobias let out a light hearted laugh. "Oh, you would not believe. When Uriah is here with us, it's even worse. He's usually the one who makes the most mess."

"Will they be eating with you today?"

"Us," he corrected her. "You," he nudged her, "are definitely eating with me."

He grinned at her and she grinned back.

"So," she started, standing up and stretching. "What's on the menu?"

"Chicken teriyaki, salad with thousand island dressing, and lobster soup."

"What is on the menu for Manami though?"

This made him stop and think. Cats were always associated with fish. But he was uncertain whether they could actually eat the aquatic creatures.

To find out what Manami could eat safely that wasn't kibble, he turned on his desktop computer and went onto the internet to research.

Apparently, cats were safe to eat cooked poultry. Thankfully, they already had plans for chicken.

"So, settled. You can have the special spot on the bed," he patted the area next to him. She gasped excitedly, and nodded enthusiastically.

**~•~•~•~•~A few hours later~•~•~•~•~**

Tris waited patiently as Tobias got ready the chairs for the others to sit. Apparently, since it was the very first meal with Tris around, he decided to have everyone eat with her.

She decided to have a bit of fun on his desktop computer while waiting. She opened his Origin account and launched The Sims 4. She tried to make herself as a Sim, but she failed miserably. She groaned.

Tobias took the mouse and said, "Hey, look at me."

She turned to him, frowning grumpily. He had to admit that she looked quite cute with that face. He glanced between the screen and her face, making amendments to Sim Tris.

Five minutes had passed when he clapped his hands once and shouted in triumph, "I'm done! Look, it's you as a Sim!"

Tobias had done an amazing job. The Sim looked exactly just like her.

"What would I look like as an adult?" she wondered aloud. Then she looked at him, making her point extremely clear. He laughed, "You got it, milady."

He clicked on the adult life stage button, and a beautiful lady stood in the little girl's place. Tris' mouth went slack.

She was to grow up to be that gorgeous, elegant, stunning woman. She could not believe it! Tobias could not believe it either. However, the more he thought about it, the more he could see her growing up to be like that. She was already a really pretty girl.

Oh goodness. He admitted she was pretty. He convinced himself that he was just speaking the truth, and saying it on neutral ground.

Several knocks on the door made them turn away from the screen. Before Tobias could even shout a "come in", Zeke had swung the door open and walked in, Uriah trailing behind.

Tobias looked at them in annoyance. "Dude, what's the point of knocking when you're just going to let yourself in like that anyway?"

Zeke shrugged. "To be polite."

Tobias sighed, shaking his head. He checked his black Casio watch and wore a shocked expression. "And I find it extremely peculiar that you are fifteen minutes early. You are usually twice as late, even for food."

Uriah ran over to point an accusing finger at his brother. "Shauna told him to come here early because we have a guest. And Zeke obviously couldn't say no to _Shaunaaa_..." He said in a sing-song tone. Zeke groaned, "Shut up, Uri!"

Tobias laughed and held out his fist. The young boy ran up to him and brofist'd him.**(BROFIIIIISSSTTTT****) **Tris watched the scene unfolding, confused. She asked, "I don't get what is going on."

Uriah jumped up and down hyper-actively. "SHAUNA IS MY FUTURE SISTER-IN-LAW!"

Zeke made a guttural noise and lunged at his younger brother. He shrieked and tried to get away from him. Tobias leaned in to whisper in the young girl's ear, "Apparently this is a common occurrence."

"I guess they are the brothers you never had," she whispered back. She did not mean to, but she let a trace of sadness slip into her voice. His face fell slightly when he heard her voice crack like that.

She had a brother back home. He remembered seeing the photo in her pendant. Even though he was quite far away, he was still able to see the faint figure of a boy her age.

Then the thought occurred to him. Did she see him like the brother she never had? Or rather, did _not_ have at the moment? Was he just an interim older sibling? He hoped not. But he knew the probability of him just being a stand-in for her actual brother was high.

"Yeah... Sometimes having a sibling of the opposite gender can be quite frustrating." Back when he and Christina had to share a room, there were lots of arguments and disputes between the brother and sister. They argued over almost everything under the sun. They argued over the desk space, they argued over her clothes strewn everywhere on the floor, and argued over who had to clean up the mess. Actually, Christina was the one who initiated every argument, not Tobias.

To be honest with himself, he was never really close to his younger sister. He was closer to Zeke, and they weren't even related! Anyway, it was partially her fault too. She was always tapping those fingers away at the screen of the small device.

He sighed. It was quite obvious why Chris distanced away from him. She found him weird after finding out that he like Japanese stuff. Or, like she said, "weird and creepy Japanese cartoons". Had she even seen those 'weird and creepy Japanese shows'?! One Piece?! Naruto?! Then how could she judge?

Maybe if he had shown her Kaichou Wa Maid Sama, she would have gotten hooked onto anime too. But nope! He showed her Attack On freaking Titan instead.

That was probably one of the dumbest decisions he had ever made.

Maybe... Maybe Tris was the type who would love Attack On Titan, or Naruto? She didn't seem like the type of girl who liked to watch chick flicks. But she didn't seem like the type who liked action either. Whatever she liked, he was determined to get her to have the same obsession he had, and he was going to do it right.

A hand moving around in front of his face snapped him out of his reverie. "You in there, Toby?" She asked. "Everyone else is here already."

"Oh," was all he said as he quickly got up. It was already 6pm. Which meant...

Just at that moment, a teenage girl with blonde hair walked in with a perfect and upright posture. It was clear why she walked in that way, she was carrying a plate full of appetising chicken with one hand and a bowl full of fresh and leafy greens drizzled with a sauce that appealed to the eyes with the other. Another teenage girl with long, unkempt, dark brown hair with green and blonde streaks was holding a bowl full of delicious red soup as well as porcelain plates and silver utensils.

The first girl placed the food on the table and said, "You know, if you had not told me that there is a guest here, I would not have wanted to bring the food up here. Those bowls are heavy! They must be at least two kilograms!"

She stood with her arms akimbo. She reminded Tris of some teachers back in school. She had the same aura as one. At a single glance, you could tell that she was deadly smart, yet not as intimidating as an actual teacher. She was dressed in a blue blouse and pencil skirt.

"Sorry for the very short notice, Cara. But you know, we need to give a good first impression to this young lady over here," Tobias gestured to Tris. She waved shyly. Cara scoffed.

"You are fully aware that I have a younger blood brother, and younger adoptive brother and sister to take care of! I don't have all the time in the world, Eaton!"

Upon hearing that, Tris immediately felt guilty. She told no one in particular, "It's okay, nobody really had to bring up dinner just to give me a good first impression."

Cara turned toward her and gave her a death glare. "If so, why did I still have to do this, huh? You're not the boss of me, anyway!"

"Cara!" Tobias snapped. He gave her a look of warning, and the other teenager placed her hand on her shoulder, silently telling her to calm down.

Cara narrowed her eyes at Tris, and then turned to leave with a huff. The other girl looked apologetic. "Sorry about all that, Tobias. She's been through a lot lately, with the pressure from her studies and having to take care of Will, Fernando, and Elia."

"That doesn't mean that she has the right to be so rude to Tris, Tori!"

"Tobias," Tris said calmly. "It's okay, I understand. It must be really stressful having to balance schoolwork with the duty of taking care of others who cannot fend for themselves. I should be the one who is in the wrong because I didn't tell you that you didn't have to do all those things for me earlier."

He sighed. He looked at her like he was trying to convince her to let Cara be in the wrong. However, she was too selfless to let the blame fall to others.

Tori started to hand out the plates and utensils to everyone. When she got to Tris, she smiled softly.

She wedged her thumb under her chin lifted the little girl's head and told her not to feel bad. It wasn't actually her fault, after all. Cara was just being unreasonable.

Despite all those words of reassurance, it was tough for Tris to swallow her food, and each bite left a bitter taste in her mouth.

**Cara's bitchiness is canon, by the way. And don't worry, all the other characters will be introduced later.**

**Uriah, don't you have something to say to a guest reviewer?**

**Uri: Oh hell yeah! Dear Madam Pedrad aka Giggles, my lovely non-canon wife but still my wife in some way nonetheless, thank you so much for your awesome review! Those were some really cool story suggestions! Divergent Kitty may not use them(sadly) but we very much appreciate your contributions! I love your contributions! And yes, you got the theory about Lynn's hair right, it was one of the answers you put out there! But your other theories are awesome too, Divergent Kitteh can't decide which one to use.**

**True. Also thanks for the compliment on my grammar. I take a lot of pride in my English. :3**

**Uri: Anywho, thanks so much for reviewing! Your review is great air work as well! :DDDD I'm always yours, baby. ;)**

**Marlene: Heeyyy.**

**Uri: Er... You're my canon wife. Madam Pedrad aka Giggles is my fanon wife.**

**Marlene: Oh okay!**

***sigh* Too bad you're a guest reviewer. Hopefully we get to see more from you! :D Remember, every single review is appreciated! Wanna start a random convo with me? Sure! I'm just as approachable as a bed of balloon nails! :D**

**Nyaning in the Fear Landscape**

**~~Divergent Kitty (=^w^=)**


	7. Baths, Dancing, and Realisation

**Sorry if this chapter came later than you expected. Okay I planned to post this on 11 July, but servers were down. Dammit. And I was in the middle of reading One Of The Boys. It's in my list of absolute favourite fanfictions, alongside Bitter Cold, Take Care and Into The Night, all of which I recommend you guys read. And if you love quick updates like updates every three to five days, read Tapping Fingers and follow its writer, yesfangirlingismylife.**

**Hey maybe I should start a fanfiction of the week thing! Hmm.**

**I'm gonna make this quick and say that I don't own anything except for Manami the cat. She might seem really extra right now but trust me, she's important. So love her as much as you can! :3**

**WARNING: ADORABLENESS AHEAD. THOSE WITH STRONG HEARTS SHOULD BE ABLE TO READ THIS. THOSE WITH WEAK HEARTS, STILL READ THIS. BECAUSE I LOVE TO TORTURE YOU GUYS MUAHAHAHAHA**

_Despite all those words of reassurance, it was tough for Tris to swallow her food, and each bite left a bitter taste in her mouth._

What was left behind after the delicious feast was a gigantic mess. Tris was just about to clean up all the crumbs but Tobias stopped her from doing so, as the maids would do it instead. She stood by and watched the women sweep the floor and mop it clean. She still felt bad, even if this was part of their job. After Cara's outburst, Tris was determined to help out whenever she could.

"Hey, you need a bath," he commented. She wrinkled her nose at him. "Are you saying that I stink?"

He answered that question with a cheeky smile. "Yep! Seriously though, you need to wash up. Here, your towel."

She took it from his hands gratefully. "I don't think I know how to use your bathroom, though. And I don't know what to change into."

Stupid boy. He should have brought at least two sets of clothes to Hana. Now Tris had nothing clean to wear to sleep.

Unless he lent her one of his shirts... Hopefully nobody would find out, like Zeke and Shauna, _especially_ Shauna. She had been scheming for the past few weeks on how to get back at him for teasing her about Zeke. If she discovered Tris not only sleeping in his bed, but in his clothes... He would never hear the end of it from Shauna. He was definitely going to regret having Tris wear his clothes.

What choice did he have? He prayed that luck was on his side for that day.

"You can wear my shirt and shorts for the time being." He tossed her a grey top and a pair of Adidas shorts. They were too small for him.

He showed her how the shower and bathtub worked, which taps to turn on for just the right temperature. When she first closed the door, Manami kept on meowing mournfully outside the door. Tris was forced to open the door again. She assured the little feline that she would only be gone for a couple of minutes. He carried her onto the bed and let her sleep there while he waited for Tris to come out.

Even after his explanation, the shower mechanism confused her. It was only after a bit of tinkering with the thing and getting sprayed in the face several times then she knew how to work it. Who knew that shower taps could be so complicated?

She let the water run in the bathtub(remembering to plug it, of course), putting her hand in it every now and then to see if the water was warm enough. After deeming it a good temperature, she stepped in and sat down. She sighed in content.

It felt amazing to have a thorough wash after all the things that happened that day. One word to describe this bath: Relief.

After a good twenty minutes, she came out from the steamy bathroom with her hair glistening with shower water. Her hair smelled like olives and her body, like pomegranate. Thank goodness Christina left her shampoo and soap in his bathroom. He had initially asked her to take them back but she told him to keep them. She claimed that it would be useful in future. It was just an excuse for her laziness. He never knew that excuse could turn out to be so true.

She gave him back his shorts. "They are too big for me. I don't really need to wear them anyway," she said rather sheepishly. It was so true. The hem of the shirt reached just a few inches above her knees. Was she really _that_ small?

The collar of the shirt was so big that it kept on slipping off her shoulder. Tris kept on trying to cover her shoulder back up, but to no avail. She sighed in annoyance and let it be.

Tobias said he would regret having her wear his clothes. Boy, was he wrong.

This was the most adorable look she had. It really showed how petite she was. Not like it was bad or anything, it was okay for her to be of a really small size. In fact, he loved that she was tiny as he could carry her with ease.

The corners of his lips turned up. She smiled back nervously and rubbed her arm. He told her that he would go and take a bath too.

The fact that Tris was in the same bathtub less than five minutes ago was distracting. So distracting, it was embarrassing. When he pictured her in the bath, he nearly slipped on the wet tiled floor. _Stupid._

_What the hell is wrong with you, brain?! Stop making me such a pervert!_

By the time he had finished, the world outside was already coloured a dark blue hue, almost black. Just like the shade of his eyes. Tris was standing at the window, watching the snow float down.

She was awfully tired. All she wanted to do was lie down and sleep. Her eyelids felt really heavy, and she had a hard time trying to keep them open.

"You can take my bed," he said softly to her. Her eyes shot open. She hadn't realised she was already dozing off on the windowsill. She lifted her head and rubbed her eyes. She yawned, "No, it's your bed... I can... Sleep on the floor."

He immediately shook his head. He suddenly scooped her up in his arms, and she squealed. "Tobias!" She laughed as he spun around, her hair flying behind her. He continued spinning, as if he were dancing, all the way to the bed. She glanced down at his feet. He was very quick in his movements, and his feet's positions were very precise. He couldn't possible know how to do ballroom dancing, could he? This boy was just an endless pit of surprises.

He laid her down on his bed as soon as he had finished his little 'dance routine'. He pulled the covers back over her and stepped back, looking proud of himself. She looked at herself, wondering why it felt wrong for her to be lying under the fluffy duvet cover. It took her five seconds before it finally clicked.

"How could you..." She gaped at him. He smirked. She was too distracted to realise his ulterior motives to get her to sleep in his bed.

She huffed as he ruffled her hair. He couldn't help but chuckle. Even when she was grumpy, she could still find a way to look simply adorable. That had to be a skill.

Hopefully he could still remember where the extra pillow and blankets were. Ah, who was he kidding? Of course he knew. They were in the teak cupboard. His father always thought they were in the wooden chest that he had hidden underneath his bed. Its purpose wasn't to keep the spare bedsheets, but to hide all his action figures and toys whenever his father wanted to check his room.

It was a secret kept between his mother and him. She gave the chest to him, telling him to hide all the things his father would consider self-indulgent, things that he would not hesitate to throw out in the trash. Thankfully, Tobias was still able to keep the collectibles on display; Marcus only came to his room once every few months anyway. He already had knowledge of that chest, but his wife told him it was for blankets and other things for Tobias' bed.

He threw the blankets onto the floor by the side of the bed. Although he had slept like a log on just the ground itself before, it was definitely much more comfortable lying on the blankets. Plus, if he slept with just a pillow and nothing else, Tris would have thrown a fit. He didn't want her to feel more guilty than she already was.

_Stupid Cara. _He thought vehemently. _You just had to make poor Tris feel bad. Have you any idea how much she has gone through today?! You try being a victim of molestation and then have insults thrown at you for no reason hours after!_

He really felt sorry for her. She was too young for that sort of bullshit. Too young, too innocent. It must have been an extremely traumatic experience.

He walked to the light switch and asked if she wanted to sleep with the light on. She shook her head, "I don't believe that there are any monsters in your room. I don't believe those stories."

He smiled and flipped the switch off. Usually kids her age would want to leave the light on while they were asleep. Uriah was one of them. Hell, even Zeke used to be petrified of the darkness!

Tobias neither loved nor hated the shadows. He didn't mind it but sometimes preferred to have light. It reminds him of different things.

Sometimes the dark could be calming, no light to let him to see the terrible world outside. It reminded him of when he was younger, whenever his mother rocked him to sleep and sang lullabies to him. The darkness made him feel safe as well, like any secret he said would stay within the shadows. It felt like a hiding place. The lack of light made it hard for anyone to find anyone, let alone anything.

The darkness was also a terrible memory. It was always dark in the closet. Every now and then, when he slept in bed, he would suddenly feel constricted. It would be hard for him to breathe and there would be dread for a reason unknown.

Unfortunately, fear controlled him more than comfort.

He stroked Manami once, earning him a sleepy contented purr before he laid down in the blankets on the ground. He shut his eyes.

"Are you sure you are alright with me sleeping in your bed and you being forced to sleep on the floor?" Her voice came out in a very worried tone. He almost wanted to laugh at her concern for something that he already assured her that he was perfectly fine with.

"Relax, Tris! I insist you sleep in it. You did say it feels like fluffy clouds, after all."

There was silence for a while. There was so much thick tension in the air, so thick that you could cut it with a knife. Finally the silence was broken by... A sneeze.

"Chu!"

She sniffled a little after her sneeze, but it started all over again. She started to sneeze non-stop for ten straight seconds.

He couldn't help it, Tobias laughed, "Tris, your sneeze is just adorable!"

She shot him a glare, trying her very best to look as menacing as possible, which wasn't saying much. He laughed even harder at the funny facial expression she made.

"It's not funny!" She huffed. "I need a tissue. Badly."

Luckily, he just got a new box of Kleenex that day. He crawled to his feet, grabbed it from his desk and tossed it in the direction of his bed. He heard her sniff and blow her nose. "Thanks."

Her nose sounded really congested. Oh the hell she was going through... The poor child.

He got up again and turned up the temperature in the room. It was really more for her benefit than his. He was used to sleeping with the temperature being at 20 degrees Celsius. Anything higher or lower, he wasn't able to handle. Yes, one could say that he was spoilt, but they didn't know him. Sure he was living in the lap of luxury, but that did not mean that he looked down on others. How could he? That would make him a hypocrite. He was just used to living in perfect comfort.

"What are you doing?" She questioned. He walked back to his bed on the floor. He pulled the blankets lower down so it could expose more of his body to the air. That night was going to be warmer for him. "I just made it warmer in here, so we won't freeze in our sleep."

"How did you do that?" She said curiously. There was a bit of shifting on the bed and he saw the silhouette of her head propped up on her hands.

"Magic!" He said with an air of mystery. She giggled.

The both of them were still for a while. Then Tobias had a brilliant idea on how to say goodnight. He grinned as he leapt onto the bed out of the blue. Tris shrieked in surprise. They somehow managed not to wake Manami up, who was still sleeping peacefully at the foot of the bed.

"Toby... No more games," Tris said as she backed away from Tobias who was crawling toward her like he was a tiger about to catch his prey. She lied. She wanted to play more with him, it was just that the way he was heading toward her frightened her.

She could barely make out his face in the darkness. Suddenly, his face turned into that evil kidnapper's face. It was harder for her to breathe, like all the air had disappeared. Sweat began to coat her palms and her heart was pounding.

_Not again not again not again!_

She grabbed the bed covers and found refuge in the smooth silk, using them to hide herself. Even though she had been through several harsh winters, this was the coldest she had ever felt.

Something tugged on the fabric and it fell away from her tiny body. She squeezed her eyes tight, bracing herself for the worst to happen... Again.

Instead of grimy hands groping her body like she expected, she felt someone embrace her. Someone who smelled like safety and comfort. Someone like Tobias.

She immediately hugged back. Only _he_ could protect her from that disgusting pedophile.

"I'm so sorry, Tris," he murmured apologetically. "I should not have done that. I should've known it would remind you of that man."

Tris could not trust herself to speak. If she did, she was sure whatever she said would be inaudible and she would break down. She could already feel her eyes brimming with tears.

All she could do was hold on to him tightly.

He kept on apologising in her ear. He felt terrible. That was dumb, that was so dumb. Trying to play with her in that way was such a dumb idea because of what happened to her earlier.

She bit her lip and tried to hold the tears in. The last thing she wanted was to go through all that again. To say that it had left a huge negative impact on her was an understatement.

"It's okay for you to cry, it's just me here," he said softly. Upon hearing that, her tears flowed down her face without stopping, an endless stream.

Reality finally decided to show itself to her face. The entire day was amazing, the memory of getting defiled and losing her family gone from her mind. And at that moment, the facts hit her all at once.

"My family doesn't know where I am," she sobbed. "It was supposed to be a happy dinner, then it just..."

"Shh," he whispered, his voice a light tickle across her cheek. "If you don't acknowledge it, it'll go away."

She pushed away all thoughts of that man, along with all the negative ones. She let go of him as soon as she felt emotionally stable again. He picked up the box of Kleenex from the middle of the bed and gave it to her. She laughed a little. "Thanks again."

"Meow."

Manami walked up to her beloved owner and brushed her head against Tris' leg. "Aw, she knows you're sad so she wanted to come and be with you," Tobias chuckled. Then his face fell. "Are you sure you're okay now?"

She nodded.

"Do you need me to be beside you, or..?" He asked sheepishly, hoping she couldn't see his blush in the dark. Sleeping beside her would be a little awkward but he wouldn't mind. She shook her head. "Don't worry, I've got Nami-Chan with me!" She exclaimed as she petted said Nami-Chan. He felt disappointed. He couldn't sleep with Tris by his side?

He tried to look for a sign of fear to give him an excuse to sleep with her. But all he saw was a peaceful face, a huge contrast to the one she had earlier on.

"Okay, goodnight Tris," he said.

"Goodnight Tobias."

Her head fell to the pillow and she hugged Manami tightly. He smiled. If only he could take a picture of that moment and keep it forever.

After the whole scene earlier, and after hearing her thoughts and feelings on the traumatic experience, Tobias made sure he fell asleep only after Tris did.

***FEELS FEELS FEELS FEELS FEELS FEELS FEELS FEELS FEELS FEELS FEELS FEELS FEELS FEELS FEELS FEELS***

**I think it's kinda wrong that Tobias said that quote in Allegiant after FourTris did the deed because of the fact that he's a kid... Oops •x•**

**Gonna self-advertise for a while: Follow my instagram rebelliousinsurgent for updates on Allegiant Part One, edits, and FourTris Sheo! And follow theojamessenpai for fanfiction dot net moments, be it funny, fluffy, or ya know, dirty. ;) Also if you want updates on my fanfictions, follow my personal trisaraeaton! Yeah I go a bit too deep into my life in that account, oops**

**Again sorry for the terrible wait. I'm an awful person I know. I fucking hate school so much right now for giving us so much homework. Anyway, till the next one!**

**Nyaning in the Fear Landscape**

**~~Divergent Kitty (=^w^=)**


	8. Routines, Coffee, and Crushes

**Today is 9 August 2015, 50 years after Singapore became independent on 9 August 1965. Today is SG50, the day Singapore turns 50. Today is our Golden Jubilee. Today I am glad to be alive to witness such an amazing celebration.**

**Happy SG50 to all fellow Singaporeans! :D**

_After the whole scene earlier, and after hearing her thoughts and feelings on the traumatic experience, Tobias made sure he fell asleep only after Tris did._

As usual, Tobias woke up at exactly six. It was already a part of him programmed to do so. He felt no traces of sleep whatsoever.

Suddenly, he realised, _is she still there? Did she run away in the night? Oh no oh no._

As much as he had hoped she would never leave, it was definitely a realistic thinking that she might have run away. He sat upright on the floor, looking around for the tiny blonde girl whom he prayed was still sleeping in his bed. Thank god, she was still there. Her breathing was even, and he could hear very soft and faint snores. It wasn't even a snore, really. It was more of slightly loud and heavy intakes of breath.

He went on with his daily routine. He went to the bathroom and washed up, making the water a bit colder than usual due to the slightly higher temperature in his room. It took him a while to find the perfect one using trial and error. He found the perfect temp, one that didn't threaten to burn his skin or cause goosebumps.

After a good fifteen minutes of relaxing in the shower—not every boy took only five minutes to bathe, that had to be absolutely disgusting and unhygienic—he came out smelling the freshest and being the cleanest he's ever been. Or at least, that's how he felt. In Christina's standards, his level of cleanliness would have been "ECK!"

His attire was different, but the colour was grey, like always. He wore a grey turtle neck with a grey coat on. His pants were thick and baggy. He didn't particularly care for what he wore, unlike his sister. She could spend hours in front of the mirror. And the result? A normal face. What was the point of nude lipstick if it was pretty much the same colour as your own mouth without makeup? Honestly, she would use up so much time and effort just to darken her already black eyelashes and trying to avoid poking herself in the eye with her eyeliner. In the end, she'd look exactly like she did without the tons of foundation powder on her face.

And her wardrobe, oh goodness. It was always a mess, clothes strewn everywhere. It would always be even worse during November. Tobias would always remember the week after Black Friday, to never open Chris' wardrobe. He had to learn that the hard way. As soon as the doors had swung open, he found himself swarmed by skirts, blouses, and dresses. Thank goodness she kept her undergarments in a different drawer, it could have had led to a rather awkward situation.

He went down to the kitchen to grab himself some breakfast. As he stepped in, he was greeted by a warm smile. "Good morning, Tobias. I trust you slept well?"

He returned the look. "Morning Mum. Yeah, I did sleep pretty well."

"And our dearest Tris?"

He smiled at her words. _Our dearest Tris._ Like she was already a part of their family, one of their own.

"She's still asleep, and she was undisturbed last night." He subconsciously scratched the back of his neck, a sign that he was nervous, or as Christina always said, "his tell". It took him a few seconds to realise what he had done. He prayed that she wasn't as good a lie detector as her adoptive daughter.

She nodded and went back to eating her toast. She bought it. As he turned away from her and went over to the gas stove to cook his own breakfast, he breathed out a sigh of relief. He didn't bother muffling it as the sound of the fire was louder than his usual speaking voice.

Unlike what most people thought, Tobias was not a spoilt brat. He always made his own breakfast, tidied up his room without being asked to. However, he wasn't good enough to cook dinner. He'd learn eventually, though.

Today, he felt less inclined to make his own food. It was a lazy morning, plus there was cake in the fridge. It was better that he got his share of the cake before Uriah found out about it.

"Mum, I'm going to leave breakfast for Tris up in my room so she doesn't have to come down."

"And what is her breakfast?"

"Chocolate cake."

She let out a little laugh. "Obviously. Now you know where it is, right?"

Of course. Why wouldn't he know where the cake was? At one point, everyone had known its location, so the cake had to stocked up every five hours. His mother had gotten so fed up about it that she had hidden it in a secret shelf in the fridge. Only she and he knew where it was. And Uriah too, unfortunately, which meant competition.

Tobias walked up to his room and left one slice of the cake for Tris in a container. He was not going to be around for when she woke up as he was to be at school at that time, so he left behind a note. After eating the extremely sinful slice he got for himself, he headed on to 'awaken the beast whom shalt not be woken'. Ah what the heck, he had to wake her up anyways.

Christina was not a morning person, unless she was woken up at times after 6.30am. Just to irk his sister, Tobias went ahead to open the door and he yanked the covers off. He blasted his ringtone in her ear, which was the Shingeki No Kyojin opening theme. She shrieked and started rolling off the bed. She tried to stay on it by flailing her arms around wildly, but failed and ended up landing on the floor anyway. Tobias burst out laughing.

His laughing was interrupted by a pillow getting thrown at his face. She groaned when she noticed the time. "6.29?! You couldn't wait until like one minute later?! I need my last sixty seconds of sleep for crying out loud!"

Alright, fine. He did feel guilty. Well, only a little. But he knew Chris never took anything to heart, especially anything from her brother. They might not have been as close as some siblings might be, but they were closer than most.

She walked—no—dragged herself to the table with the coffee maker on it. She made herself a cup of her favourite mocha and slurped it up.

Like a switch, flicked to light up the room, Christina cheered. "Yeah! I'm up, I'm up! I'm awake and beyond ready to start the day!" She patted her trusty machine as if it were her pet. "Thank you! You are magic, oh dearest coffee maker. I love you, I don't know what I'd do without you." She reached around to hug it.

"Who needs a boyfriend when you have this?" He smirked and raised an eyebrow. She rolled her eyes and said, "Bish puh-lease, I do!"

Oh well. At least he tried.

Suddenly, she cried out in despair, "Just great. Where's my bag?! Oh god no!" Tobias sighed. Typical.

While she was searching for her beloved bag, her brother pushed her wardrobe open just a crack. Couldn't be too careful, it might have been 'in full stock'. Lucky for him, her clothes were actually neatly stacked. Well, neat in Christina's lazy standards. She was definitely one of the laziest girls on the planet. She never exercised, never ate any healthy food, or gone on any diets. Yet somehow she still stayed so slim. Many of the girls in school envied her.

"Found it! Oh my baby!" She exclaimed as she kissed the bag that had the pictures of Calum, Ashton, Luke, and Michael all over and the 5 Seconds Of Summer logo smack in the middle of it.

Sigh. Was this the first time she had fangirled over 5SOS? No, definitely not the first. Was he still annoyed by it? Yes. Honestly, sometimes her fangirlism was just unbearable.

She squealed and squeezed her bag tightly. "I'm never losing you again, especially you, Calum my baby!" She screamed.

To get her to shut up, Tobias threw her clothes in her face. "Hurry up and get dressed. There's more time for fangirling later."

She examined the shirt and skirt he had picked out for her, and nodded her head in approval. She picked them up and slung them over her shoulder. On her way to the bathroom, she patted his head. "Good job, bro."

He felt a sense of achievement. Whenever he decided what she would wear, the clothes would usually be thrown back into the wardrobe. For once, his clothing choices for her weren't bland, or downright awful.

Now, Christina was lazy, but that didn't mean she wasn't clean. She could devote a whole half hour just to be clean, yet she almost never handed up her homework on time. When he asked her why that was, the one word she said was "priorities".

Right. So gussying up for just a normal school day for forty-five minutes was more important than practising how to multiply thirteen by twelve. Everyone could forget about her cleaning her room up. Every single time it was perfectly tidy, she would find a way to make it the way it was before.

While waiting for her to come out of the shower, Tobias looked through her bag, trying to find her timetable. She always relied on him to pack his bag for her, that lazy girl. Suddenly, the scent of roses and strawberries tickled his nose.

He frowned in confusion. Roses? Strawberries? He flipped through her papers, trying to find the source of the smell. A piece of light pink paper stood out among the folded and crumpled white. He could not hold in his curiosity any longer and took it out from her bag. The paper was scented. Hm, strawberries.

_Dear Christina,_

_I know we've been good friends for a while. You're awesome! And I like you. You probably don't feel the same way toward me, but that's ok. I'm not athletic like you are, I'm just all brain. Not many girls will like me. But you are really kind and nice and funny and you helped me make more friends! Plus I get to see you a lot of times because we're in the same class and my older sister works for your family. I wrote this letter cuz I am not as good at saying things as I am with writing it. So..._

_I hope you like me back? :)_

_Your best friend,_

_Will_

_PS. Like this card? It's strawberry scented! Your favourite!_

_PPS. I sneaked a rose in your bag. Also your favourite! :)_

_PPPS. Don't tell your big brother. He'd kill me and he is scary as hell. In fact don't tell anybody! But Tobias most of all._

Tobias' blood was boiling. "don't tell your big brother"? What kind of nonsense was that?! He deserved to know which boy liked his sister so that he could protect her if that boy was no good. And Will? As in, Cara Lloyd-Hughes' younger brother, Will Lloyd-Hughes? Oh, did Tobias have a bone to pick with him.

He was unable to find the flower, but the smell was still there, a sign that this card was given quite recently. Where was that damned rose though?

Finally, he saw it. The only thing that was actually placed nicely on her desk was a vase with an intricate design, with a crimson red rose in it. That couldn't mean...

Christina liked Will back. How could she? Will was one of the servant's siblings, for goodness' sake! Hell, sometimes he even helped out in the house whenever he visited! If they were to have a relationship, it would be so very wrong. It would be like a relationship between a boss and her employee.

Tobias heard the muffled sounds of a toilet flushing. Christina was about to come out of the bathroom! Either she bathed for an at least reasonable amount of time, or he took longer than expected. In his hurry, he sloppily slipped the card back inside.

She emerged from the bathroom, towel in hand, drying her hair. "Did cha pack my bag yet? Ah, who am I kidding, of course you did."

"Um, I haven't done it yet," he admitted sheepishly. Her mouth flew open in complete shock. "What?! You never forget to do that for me!" She exclaimed before narrowing her eyes. "Say... What were you doing in the time where I was in the shower? You hadn't been packing my bag, so surely you must have done something."

He made sure not to scratch the back of his neck, bite his lip, or fidget suspiciously while replying. It was already bad enough that he did something that would surely get his sister mad, and that she was now interrogating him. It was even worse when his sister was Christina, aka the walking lie detector.

Standing up straighter, he said with a strict voice, "You should pack it yourself, Chris. You're already eight years old, surely you can do that on your own."

Great, he thought. He'd just played his trump card. He knew he would use the "you're old enough to pack your own bag" excuse someday if he was snooping around and got caught. She whined, "Are you kidding me?!"

"I won't help you settle your files and documents in your workbag in future, might as well get used to it now," he reasoned with her. She choked on a fake sob and then shot him a glare. When she realised that he would not back down, she groaned. "Fine, fine. I'll go pack. You'll need to guide me though."

Sigh. Christina could be such an embarrassment sometimes. However, that was what made Christina, Christina.

**I can't believe my country is 50 years old. National Day Parade was amazing! The fireworks were amazing, the performances were amazing, Singapore is amazing. :333 And yes, I delayed my updating so that I can update on National Day. :) AGAIN HAPPY SG50 TO ALL SINGAPOREANS, WHOO! Hehe, I literally have only fifteen minutes before SG50 ends! MUST CHERISH THESE LAST COUPLE OF MINUTES!**

**AND OMFG I AM OBSESSED WITH SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN RIGHT NOW! That's Attack On Titan, btw. I imagined Theo blasting the opening theme in Zoë Kravitz's ear and started laughing because THE THEME SONG IS HELLA LOUD! Eren and Mikasa, ANOTHER FAVOURITE SHIPPING SQUEE**

**The Five Seconds Of Summer reference is dedicated to one of my best friends, and most importantly, my first ever friend in secondary school, Bahiyaa. ;))) CALUM IS YOUR BABY, BUTTHIYAAAAA xDDD**

**Nyaning in the Fear Landscape**

**~~Divergent Kitty (=^w^=)**


	9. Loneliness, Names, and Detention

**Heyo guys! I just broke down in church a couple hours ago when they were asking people who were discouraged to come up and be prayed for. And yeah I cried and I felt like slapping my two friends who I was tasked to babysit(even though they are just a year younger than me, they act very childishly like literally a child so I needed to keep an eye on them) because they didn't even have a reason to come up to the front of the main sanctuary and while the lady was praying for me they were talking loudly. They literally said, "Trisara, if you're going I'm gonna go toooooo!" And when the pastor was like "All the sisters, sing." One of the kids who's a guy, he sang. And I actually slapped his arm to tell him to stop cuz his singing is absolutely OFF KEY. AND HE THINKS HIS SINGING IS GOOD LIKE WTF :/ And I went up and cried cuz idek why. Just cried when I thought about what I was being discouraged about. Eh whatever I wiped away my tears cuz I'm a man *puffs out non existent chest***

**But tbh a tiny reason why I went up was cuz my crush was on the stage and he was singing and omfg that voice but I know it's wrong cuz he's my friend's older brother and ugh he's handsome and I've known him since young and he's my brother's close friend and ugh halp these feelings need to stop**

**OMFG HUGO BOSS ADVERT GONNA BE RELEASED SOON ASDFGHJKL CAN'T WAIT**

**I wanna watch the Attack On Titan movie so freaking bad but it's rated NC16, but not in my country. Instead IT'S FUCKING M18. LIKE WTF UNFAIR MUCH?! I'VE WATCHED THE WHOLE OF THE ANIME'S FIRST SEASON AND NOW YOU'RE TELLING ME I CAN'T WATCH THE LIVE ACTION VERSION OF IT?! IT'S NOT LIKE THE LIVE ACTION VERSION ISN'T ANY BETTER THAN THE ANIMATED ONE, RIGHT?**

**Oh and if you're wondering what I'm talking about, AOT is an anime with loads of action, feels, people including main characters dying(sound familiar? Lookin at you, V. Roth.), and naked giants with no dongs who run like fabulous gay guys. Just sayin'.**

_Sigh. Christina could be such an embarrassment sometimes. However, that was what made Christina, Christina._

Tris stretched her arms out and yawned as she woke up. As per her daily waking up routine, she shouted cheerily.

"Good morning! Good morning! Exciting day! Exciting day!"

She looked around her and noticed that Tobias wasn't there, only Manami, who was still sleeping soundly. The bed sheets were crinkled, and his smell was still there. She figured he couldn't have been gone for long.

The more she stared at the messy make-do bed, the more she felt the need to neaten it up. She hopped off the bed and started by folding the blanket on the floor. Next, she looked for the pillow only to find it thrown across the room. How did it get there? Tobias must have been a scary person to sleep with, tossing and turning. Not that she wanted to sleep beside him, of course.

Where were these kept? She couldn't remember. Oh well, she'd just put them on the edge of the bed.

Where was Tobias? He should have been here already. It couldn't possibly be that he would take this long just to eat breakfast, right? She shrugged it off and went down to the kitchen, thinking he would be there.

No one. Nobody was in the kitchen. She found it rather odd. She called out for Tobias.

"Tobias! Toby! Where are you?!"

Hearing nothing but her own echoes, Tris started to feel a little unnerved. Was she left in the house all alone? She hoped not. How could a little eight year old be left in such an unfamiliar house? Just as she was about to break down crying, she heard a voice. "Tris?"

Tris jumped in shock. A ghost?! She spun around and heaved a sigh of relief. It was only Evelyn. She looked slightly guilty. "Sorry to startle you, Tris."

The young child waved it off. "It's okay, Mrs Eaton. I wasn't really scared."

"Just Evelyn will do, or aunt Evelyn," she smiled.

"Do you know where Tobias is? I can't find him anywhere," Tris pouted. She felt so lonely and lost without him. Sure, Zeke and the others were friendly, but she didn't think she had the guts to go up to them and ask if they could hang out.

Evelyn smoothed her hand over Tris' hair. "He's at school right now. The snow hasn't been very bad, so school isn't closed."

"Oh." She felt stupid. She thought he was still at home. She had the impression that he did not have any school when he found her. How did she not notice the textbooks in the car that she got picked up in? However, he was very free yesterday. He was not doing any homework of any sort. Maybe he just didn't have any homework that day. Maybe he just did them in school.

Suddenly, her stomach let out a rumble. Goodness! How embarrassing. Her cheeks turned a shade of bright red. "Haha..." She laughed awkwardly before clearing her throat. "Is there any food that I can eat?"

Evelyn frowned. "Isn't there some cake up there in Tobias' room?"

"Huh?" Tris asked, confused. "There's cake?"

Evelyn sighed under her breath. "That stupid boy, what a liar he can be sometimes. I expected more from him."

Alarmed that she would say such a thing about Tobias, she quickly said, "No, I think I might have missed it. He wouldn't do such a thing."

The middle aged lady raised an eyebrow, as if she were challenging Tris to prove her wrong. Damn right, Tris was going to! She would do anything and everything to defend him. Surely he could not have lied about leaving cake for her.

She ran up fast, determined to show his mother that he was not as naughty as she thought he was. Maybe a bit too fast, because by the time she had reached the room she was panting and sweating despite the cold weather. At least she didn't smell bad, a perk of running during winter. Manami was still asleep. Wow, could this kitten nap.

There it was, sitting on top of the bedside table. A China plate with a silver lid. It looked like one of those fancy dishes in those medieval movies. How much more medieval could this house get? It had a queen-like mother, faithful servants, and a playful prince. Now added to the list was fancy dishware.

She lifted the lid up and was greeted by the amazing smell of the chocolate cake. She inhaled deeply and sighed. Good old Toby, she knew he didn't lie. She wondered, how did she not see it when she woke up? Hm.

Next to the mouth watering chocolate cake was a note. It had rather neat handwriting on it, must have been written by Tobias. It wasn't too hard to read, no grammar mistakes or spelling errors. Those were the two things that irked Tris the most.

_Hey Tris!_

_By the time you read this, I've probably already gone off to school. Don't worry, school ends at one in the afternoon today, I'll be back at 1.30, 2, latest. School is quite a distance away, and it would take me a while to get back home. If you're hungry, you can just ask Mom or Hana to make you lunch. Yeah, sorry I have to leave you and Nami all alone at home :( The others have school too, so both of you have to be stuck here by yourselves. Sorry Trissy! I'll try my best to make up for all the awesome fun time we've lost these past few hours! Sigh, stupid school. :p_

_Tobias_

_Ps. Hope you like the cake!_

Tris giggled after she had finished reading. So she was stuck at home with Manami? No problem. She had loads of catching up to do with that little feline.

Who was still fast asleep.

She chuckled to herself and bit off a huge chunk of cake. Her smile only grew bigger as the chocolate taste delighted her taste buds. She flopped onto the bed and sighed. How many hours till he'd come back? Now was 10, so four more hours to go. As Tris laid there, she had the thought.

What was Tobias doing at the moment?

**~•~•~•~•~In Erudite Elementary~•~•~•~•~**

"And you have to find the multiple of four and six, and minus ten..."

The Mathematics teacher, Miss Ruth, droned on, her voice drawing her students to slumber. Only Tobias seemed to be paying attention. However, he would let himself sleep if he could. If he didn't pay attention, he would not get the grades his father wanted, and he knew how that would end up. A belt plus his back, what would that equal to? A whole night of burning pain. He was not going to make the same mistake again.

Beside him, Zeke had already fallen asleep. Tobias was not going to bother waking him up. Plus, he needed that couple minutes of rest. Like everyone else in the class, he did not have enough rest last night. Shauna sat right next to her future boyfriend, and she was failing to keep her head up, just like the other students who haven't fallen asleep yet but were close to that stage. Suddenly there was a loud thud from his right. He turned to look; yep, one more down. Casualty: Shauna Felicity Arden.

"And after you divide it by three, remember to add the ten back again. From my many many years of teaching—"

"Oh definitely many years of teaching, alright," he muttered as he wrote down the notes.

"—I have always seen students forgetting to do this extremely important..." She trailed off when she saw all the heads that were down on the tables. Sighing, she held her textbook and slammed it against her desk with a loud 'BANG!'

Tobias flinched when he heard the sharp sound and his pen stroke went too far out. All the students' heads snapped up, even Zeke's. Miss Ruth was fuming. "How _dare_ you sleep in my class! Detention, all of you!"

Immediately after she said that, everyone groaned. Needless to say, there were loads of protests. However, the teacher would not back down. Tobias felt it was pretty unfair. He wasn't dozing off in class, yet he had to go for detention too. Marcus would not be happy.

Oh no.

He had to get out of detention. If he did not...

"Miss Ruth," he raised his hand, earning her attention. "It's unfair for me to do detention. I was not sleeping in class, neither was Zeke nor Shauna."

"And what proof do you have that you and the other two weren't sleeping in my class, hmm?"

Tobias smirked. He always had a backup plan for situations like these. Zeke and Shauna knew about this plan too. They waved their sheet of notes in the air. Miss Ruth narrowed her eyes at the papers before nodding. "Well, at least three of you have some respect."

"Or maybe it's just one," Zeke whispered, wiggling his eyebrows at his best friend. But in reality, Tobias wanted nothing to do but to lay his head on the table and nap. Thanks to Marcus, he had no choice but to go through the awful torture known as listening to teachers talk about mathematic equations.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the bell rang, signifying the end of the lesson. The whole class immediately packed their bags and scurried out from the classroom to go to the next lesson. As the trio was walking in the hallway, they were given dirty looks from the rest of the math class.

"Thanks for writing the notes for me, man! Mom would have died if she found out I got detention again," Zeke hissed.

"Yeah," Shauna nodded in agreement. "Thank god for your fast writing." Tobias merely shrugged. "Anything for you guys. Plus, I don't want Tris to be bored. She loves you guys and would be so upset if we all came home late."

"Yeah. Haven't known her for long, but I really like Tris," Shauna said. Immediately after she finished her sentence, Zeke used his hands to cup around his mouth and hollered, "Ha! GAAYYY!"

Tobias burst out laughing while she just gaped at him. As soon as he saw her expression, he laughed even harder. "OH MY GOD SHAUNA YOUR FACE! IT'S SO RED!"

She stomped her foot like a grumpy toddler and shoved Zeke. "Shut up!"

"Nope! You're not the boss of me, Miss Shauna Felicity Arden," Zeke winked. He quickly jumped away from her oncoming slap. "You better apologise, Ezekiel Joshua Pedrad! And why did you even say my full name?!"

Tobias coughed, "AHEM, Zeke is totally not trying to flirt with you, AHEM!"

Shauna blushed a furious shade of red. So did Zeke.

"SHUT UP, TOBIAS!"

"What about you and Tris, huh?" Zeke retorted.

"Yeah! What about you two?!"

It was Tobias' turn to turn red. "I don't like Tris! Well at least not in that way."

"Keep telling yourself that, man. Keep telling yourself."

His response was to give Zeke a noogie. It worked, even though they were of the same age. Tobias was taller and stronger, after all.

Suddenly, Shauna shrieked. Heads turned in her direction. Well, they would, if there were even any heads around them.

"WE'RE LATE FOR GEOGRAPHY!" She screeched. Her finger was pointed in the direction of the wall clock. The time read 10.35, and the next lesson was supposed to start at 10.30!

"Oh crap!" Zeke exclaimed. Mrs Annie will definitely not be happy. They ran up two flights of stairs to reach the classroom. By the time they got there, they were sweating profusely. The door was wide open, and everyone turned to stare at the new arrivals.

Mrs Annie glared at the three children. Tobias groaned inwardly.

_Oh boy._

_It's going to be a very long three hours._

**Mrs Annie is actually the name of my geography teacher, and I hate her so much. Everyone in my class does, and when I had to do a survey and say stuff about our subject teachers, I literally typed this for what this teacher can improve on: "More showing, less droning." AND OMG THAT SATISFACTION I FELT LIKE I COULD SLAY GIANTS OR SOMETHING **

**And to guest reviewer, I wish I could PM you but alas, I can't. Anyway, I actually mean to address this question that I'm sure many of you have: Why haven't they looked for her family yet, since they're part of the government? This isn't a fact that I have missed out on, or didn't realise. I'm actually fully aware of this, your question won't be answered now because this is a pretty big part of the plot. Also, this question when answered, will totally change Tris and Tobias' relationship.**

**So for those looking for the answer, sowwie, I can't tell you! It'll spoil a lot of shiz.**

**Sorry for long A/Ns. It's currently 1.44am when I'm writing this, so I'm dead tired and they're burning stuff for Ghost Festival, so it's smoky and it makes my eyes burn. And also, sorry for any possible typos. I'm not sure if I've already proof-read this in advance or nah, but eh I'm just gonna post dis shiz.**

**Nyaning in the Fear Landscape **

**~~Divergent Kitty (=^w^=)**


	10. Rice, Boops, and Changes

**ERMEHGAHD ANSEL IS HERE IN SINGAPORE ASDFGHJKL HE SAID SO ON HIS SNAPCHAT AND I WANNA MEET HIM BUT I PROBABLY NEVER WILL AND OMFG THE FACT THAT HE IS IN MY HOME COUNTRY RIGHT NOW SEEING THE SAME NIGHT SKY ASDFGHJKL :DDDD**

**DON'T BE DEPRESSED IF YOU READ THIS: My grandmother passed on a week ago. Don't worry, I won't put my stories on hiatus ever again. I'm obviously sad but ya know what I'm extremely happy too, cuz she's there with the Lord up in heaven. Amazing part is that even though she was in pain in the hospital and my family was telling her to let go so she would not suffer anymore, she continued to brave through. We found it weird because everyone had already said their goodbyes, so what was she still holding onto?**

**Sunday. She passed away on Sunday, her favourite day because it's the day where she can worship and praise God and go to church. It's absolutely beautiful. ;u; *sniffle* I'm okay. *sniff* I'm okay now. :)**

**And without further ado, here's the chapter! :D**

**Do I own Divergent, Caleb?**

**Caleb: *uses snapchat* *takes selfie and types* *shows phone to me***

**Phone: *has picture of Caleb with one eyebrow raised with caption "Divergent Kitty doesn't own Divergent!"***

***nods in approval* Awesome.**

* * *

_Oh boy._

_It's going to be a very long three hours._

By some stroke of luck, Tobias, Zeke and Shauna didn't have to go for detention after all. They just had to write "I will not be late for class" fifty times on a piece of paper. Although that was pretty bad, at least Mrs Annie didn't call their parents. Hana would have flipped.

Gosh, how much trouble those kids could get into. It was crazy, but most of the shenanigans they had done started with Zeke, that stupid boy.

They planned to go back to their own homes to freshen up before going over to Tobias' place.

"So we'll see you later?" Zeke asked Tobias. He nodded. "Of course. Make sure you don't use up all the time just for homework, save some time to spend with Tris. She's pretty lonely."

At this moment, Shauna began singing that song by AKON. "Lonely, I am so lonely, I've got nobody, all on my own, AWHHHH!" She screeched in an extremely high pitched voice. Zeke clapped his hands over his ears. "Geez, and you wonder why you don't have a boyfriend, thus making you 'so lonely'."

She rolled her eyes. "As if _you_ can sing that part. Nobody can, it's too high pitched."

"Wanna bet, Shauna Felicity Arden?"

"You're on, Ezekiel Joshua Pedrad!"

Tobias sighed. Whenever they said each other's full names, that meant they were flirting with each other. After spending so much time with them(and being the very awkward third wheel), he was able to tell. Sensing that he was no longer need there and was completely ignored, he took his leave. But just before he walked out of the school doors, he shouted, "Have fun without me, lovebirds!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP, TOBIAS JAMES EATON!" They screamed. He burst out laughing. Of course, even when they were defending themselves that the rumour wasn't true, they would say it together. They did practically everything together, be it good or bad.

He walked a few blocks away from the school to the car park where his chauffeur, Harrison, was waiting, like always. He opened the door for him and greeted the young man, "Master Tobias."

Tobias nodded in response and greeted him back with a smile, "Hello, Harrison."

This time, he didn't hear a struggle in one of the alleys. This time, he didn't see a young girl trying to defend herself from a crazy man. This time was uneventful, unlike yesterday.

When he got back home, the first thing he did was sling his bag over the back of the dining chair. Tori was there in the kitchen, preparing lunch for him.

"Hello Tobias," she said without even looking up. She was too busy focusing on the food. He walked over and watched her take a bowl of rice, place a plate on top and flip it over. She held it there for a few seconds before removing the bowl, leaving the rice on the plate in a very nice dome. The rice smelled so delicious; how could rice even have a smell to begin with? Then again, the fragrance was so strong, it was hard to _not_ notice it.

This month's food theme was Asian. Since Tori was of Chinese and Japanese descent, it was only fitting that she be the one who cooked the food.

After adding boiled chicken slices on another plate and different kinds of sauces in a small saucer with three compartments, she was done.

"What are these?" He asked and pointed at the saucer. She answered, "Those are different sauces. You're supposed to add the sauce of your preference to the rice, and mix. Mix the chicken in with it too, if you want."

He nodded. What an interesting dish, a bit like a mini buffet. Being her official taste tester, he mixed all the sauces with the rice and chicken. He took the spoon in his hand and scooped out a bit of rice and chicken. Oh my... The smell of the food... He did not hesitate to stuff the spoon into his mouth, a bit of rice dotting his chin. Tori smiled at his enthusiasm before watching him closely. "So? How is it? Is it good?" She asked, fidgeting nervously.

Her question was answered by him shovelling more food into his mouth. She laughed. "I'll take that as a yes."

"You think?! This is delicious, Tori!" He exclaimed through a mouthful of rice. "What is this called?"

"It's Hainanese chicken rice, a dish often sold in Singapore," she said proudly. "I spent my elementary school years there, you know."

He formed an 'o' with his mouth and continued feasting on the food. She was not Singaporean, but she spent a few years there before coming to Chicago. Her parents were Japanese, and thus she was born in the land of the rising sun.

Hm, chicken rice. It was such a simple dish yet so delectable. He had to ask her to make more and let the others try.

Suddenly he remembered. What about Tris? Had she eaten lunch yet? He asked Tori about it and she assured him that Tris had already had her afternoon meal which was what he was eating. "Does she like it? She better," he grinned, already knowing the answer yet still wanting Tori to say it.

She smiled widely. "Apparently she visited Singapore once when she was three, yet she could still remember the food she had eaten! This is one of them!"

As if Tris couldn't get anymore lovable.

After finishing up his lunch, Tobias ran up to his room. His heartbeat raced as he saw the blonde girl playing with the calico cat. She was using one of his long pencils as bait, but he didn't mind. The feline chased after her mistress, trying her best to catch the pencil in between her teeth. They raced around the room, the girl laughing and squealing every time the cat almost caught up with her.

When she finally noticed the handsome young boy standing in the doorway, she grinned and waved. "Toby!" She shouted gleefully.

"Trissy!" He shouted back before running forward and tackling her. She shrieked as he pushed her down to the ground. He used his hands to keep her there on the floor, not giving her any chance to escape. While they were struggling, Manami took this chance to steal the pencil that was still in Tris' hand.

"Argh," she groaned, "you made me lose to her again!" She shot Tobias a glare but all he did was shrug and smile cheekily. Sighing, she tried her best to wriggle out of his grasp but to no avail. "I'll get you back one day, Eaton, I swear," she seethed.

"Keep dreaming, Tris. You'll never beat me," he said cockily. She huffed at his attitude. He booped her nose for fun, and she immediately scrunched it up at the contact. She looked like she just swallowed something sour. He laughed and booped her nose once more, wanting to see her face look like that again. He got the response he wanted from her. It wasn't just him who was having fun, though. She too found this little nose-booping game of theirs entertaining.

The only thing that was missing was the sounds they had to make every time he tapped her nose. Deciding to get even with him, she reached up and tapped his nose. "Boop!" She squealed. She started tapping his nose repeatedly, saying the word "boop" like a machine gun, non-stop.

Tobias scrunched his nose up like she did, and then stuck his tongue out and licked her finger. She flung her hand back as if she touched a power socket. "Ew!" She cried out in disgust.

He burst out laughing and rolled off her only to roll around on the ground, still laughing.

Thinking this was another game, Tris jumped on top of him and started to roll around with him. They started a wrestling match, and so far, Tobias was the victor.

"Hey Tobias, you left your bag..." Tori trailed off when she saw them rolling around, trying to pin the other to the floor. They hadn't noticed her yet, they were too busy trying to beat each other. "Oh, um, okay," she muttered awkwardly. "I'll just leave it here, then..."

She proceeded to place the bulky schoolbag by the entrance and left, closing the door behind her. Oh gosh.

Hopefully in the future, Tobias wouldn't remember that when he was a ten year old innocent kid, he was doing one of those cute couple wrestling matches with a girl he found on the streets. Knowing what a jerk the brain could be, it was highly unlikely that he would forget about this incident. Since that was the case, this memory had better be a good one.

However, Tori had to admit that was pretty adorable. She had only seen those kinds of things in romantic dramas or movies. Even though Tris and Tobias looked super cute together, she knew they would not approve of this shipping. She would not even bother to ask them whether they had feelings toward each other(other than friendship) because they would definitely deny it. Never in her life had she ever seen kids or teenagers confess their feelings to a person and the person they like, liking them back. Neither would they admit it out loud, even if the feeling was mutual and they knew it. She knew that from her past experiences in elementary, junior high, and high school.

Yes, as shocking as it was, Tori knew how having a crush was like. The boyish teenager did have hormones, after all. She might have been a good chef, but that didn't mean she did not know how to play sports. In fact, that was one of her strong points. Her strongest point was computer programming and other technological related things, knowledge which she had passed on to Tobias. She was the one who got him into video games and computers and technology in general. He figured everything else out on his own, with only a mere bit of guidance from his best Asian friend. Talented, that was what he was.

No, _unusually_ talented. She had only taught him the basics, and he went on to learn the complex stuff all by himself, with his own initiative. He was definitely already an expert at programming, and he had Tori to thank for introducing him to his current passion.

That wasn't the first thing that she introduced to him that became one of his favourite things, however. Anime, too. Whenever she found him watching Naruto, Kuroko No Basuke, or Shingeki No Kyojin, she would feel a sense of pride.

Speaking of Attack On Titan, Tobias sometimes reminded Tori of Eren Jaeger, and sometimes of Levi. He was like Eren in the way that he was hot-headed and very curious about everything. And the similarities between him and Levi were their sometimes expressionless I-don't-freaking-care faces. Also, he could sometimes be a bit of a jerk. Only sometimes.

Fine, all the time.

At least he used to, until Tris came along. His behaviour made an entire 180 degree turn. He was unintentionally rude to everyone, even if their were close friends. So far, with the young girl around, he hadn't made any snarky remarks to anyone yet. Not even in school, when the snooty bitches tried to flirt with him. For crying out loud, he was only a ten year old kid. He wasn't ready for a relationship yet.

Something or rather someone that he _was_ ready for though, was the curious, cheerful, petite blonde girl.

* * *

**I'm sorry I just added in one whole part about SNK. I'M TRYING TO STOP CUZ MY FRIEND STOPPED WATCHING IT CUZ OF ME SHIPPING ERERI/RIREN GAH I FELT SO BAD THAT SHE HAD TO WITHDRAW FROM THE AWESOMENESS**

**That's it, I'm never telling anyone who isn't an Otaku, that I ship a yaoi ship. :s Oh and yes, the chicken rice dish is absolutely delicious. I LOVE CHICKEN RICE SO MUCH EVEN THE RICE ITSELF IS AMAZING**

**Nyaning in the Fear Landscape**

**~~Divergent Kitty (=^w^=)**


	11. Games, Smacks, and Avoidance

**EXAMS ARE FINALLY OVER FOR ME, HALLELUJAH \\(*^u^*)/ Yesterday I went to Sentosa, to zipline! It was really awesome and fun, although I was in the slowest lane -.- But later on I went on the flowrider, the things that makes fake waves! I can kinda surf now hehe but not in those huge waves, only in rushing water. It was fun but really tiring and embarrassing cuz there were like a lot of half naked guys there and I would've found them hot if they weren't more than half my age :/ Well, you'd expect that at a beach, but that kinda thing makes me uncomfortable! *blushes furiously***

**Uri: Divergent Kitty doesn't own anything except for the plot!**

**Technically, my older bro and I own the video games mentioned. Well not like we created it, we just actually have those games in our Steam library.**

**Uri: Oh. *whisper* Damned lucky cat.**

**What was that?**

**Uri: NOTHING *sweats profusely***

* * *

_Something or rather someone that he was ready for though, was the curious, cheerful, petite blonde girl._

"Woah! How many games do you have here?!"

Tobias smiled proudly as Tris gasped in amazement at his Steam library. So many games! What _were_ these games, even? Portal? Fallout? The Elder Scrolls? How did he get so many of them? She had gone to video game shops before, and just one copy of a game could cost a bomb. To buy this many... The Eatons must have been richer than she thought. And the collectibles on his desk? They had to have been even more expensive.

"Mom buys these for me. My father doesn't know about them."

"Doesn't he see them?"

"He almost never comes up here," he shrugged. "Heck, he doesn't even know I have my own computer."

"Heh, sneaky, aren't ya?" She smirked. She looked back at the computer screen and clicked 'play' for a random game. Suddenly, the screen turned black. She was very alarmed as she thought she had done something wrong, but immediately felt relieved when she saw mist slowly appear from the bottom.

However, the new window was closed just as fast as it had popped up. The weirdest part was that nobody touched the keyboard or any part of the computer at all. Tris' eyes went wide in shock. "What happened? Where's the game?" She asked, clearly confused. They had gone back to the Steam library. It was as if the game was never even opened in the first place. The only proof that the game was indeed launched were the words shown on the screen: "Last played: Today."

Tobias shook his head. "It crashes every single time I try to play it. I don't know what on earth the developers are doing. Apparently everyone who has the game also has this problem."

To prove his point, he attempted to play the game again. Key word, _attempted_. It had crashed yet again. "Tch," he rolled his eyes, "typical of Bethesda."

She looked up to him with sparkling, curious eyes. "What's that?"

"The game company that made this game. Their games are amazing, it's just that they always have problems with crashes and bugs and a hell lot of glitches. It's the norm for them."

She had no idea what he had just said, but she just nodded anyway. "It does look pretty fun," she said truthfully. He grinned, "Yeah, it is. Too bad it's currently unplayable until Bethesda releases a new fix."

Tris was just about to say something when Zeke barged in. "Totoro-Senpai! I'm here! Kyaaa!" He squealed in an extremely high pitched voice.

Shauna followed behind, holding her hands to her face. "I swear I don't know this person, or have any relation with him."

Tobias was just about to respond but was unable to when Zeke threw the Totoro plush in his face. He threw it back at his best friend and turned to Shauna. "You should have better taste. Of all the boys in the world, you chose this idiot." He gestured to Zeke who was busy rolling around on the floor, mirroring Manami. He had obviously heard that comment since it was so loudly spoken out, but pretended that he had not heard it to save himself the embarrassment.

Shauna however, refused to go with ignorance. She said defensively, "For the last time, I do _not_ like Zeke in that way!"

"You're puffing your cheeks out," Tobias pointed out. "You always do that when you're lying."

"What proof do you have that I always do that when I'm being dishonest?"

Just one word could explain everything; "Christina," was all he said. The blonde racked her brains for all the vulgar insults she could hurl at the sharp eyed eight year old. _Curse her and her observant eyes._

Zeke perked up when he realised that Shauna indirectly admitted she had a crush on him. Actually, he knew that long time ago, but never had the guts to say it back. After all, she hadn't really shown any actual signs of liking him more than a friend. Or at least, that was what he thought.

Honestly, Tobias was getting sick of waiting for his two best buddies to get together. Sure they were too young for a relationship, but still. They had known each other ever since they were babies as their mothers worked for Marcus even at that time. The signs that they had affections for each other were too obvious, just not for Zeke and Shauna themselves.

He found it ironic how the two of them could not tell that the other liked them back, yet they called him out on liking Tris, a girl he just met a day ago. No, they were not being ridiculous, it was true that he _might_ have had just a _tiny_ crush on her. They could detect just a small sliver of affection, yet couldn't realise the gigantic amount of _love_ they had for each other.

Geez, just saying the word _love in _his head gave Tobias the urge to form a heart with his hands and make kissy noises between Zeke and Shauna. He was pretty certain that would be what Zeke would do were he in Tobias' position.

To draw the attention away from her, Shauna pointed at the computer and asked him what games he was playing. He raised an eyebrow at her and she prayed that he wouldn't realise that she was trying to go off topic. Deciding to have a bit of mercy on her, he went along with it and explained that he wasn't playing anything but Tris was. Or rather, trying to make one of the games work, and failing.

Zeke stood up from his lying position next to the cat. He placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and told her, "Skyrim isn't playable, at least for now. It's pointless to even try and open the game."

Tris gasped, "How did you—"

"Know that the game was Skyrim?" He smiled cheekily. "Well, _someone_ has been ranting a lot in school about how his beloved game doesn't work."

Tobias placed his hands over his face in an attempt to cover his embarrassment. "Shut up, Zeke."

A painful slap on the back made him jolt upright in his chair. "Ha! Who asked you to be so obsessed with that game when it just came out? Serves you right for being such an overly attached girlfriend to your video games!" Shauna teased.

He glared at her and tried to reach the part where she slapped him, but was only managed to rub his neck. His arms weren't really that long or flexible, after all. That girl didn't have that much strength in her, but boy could she deal a painful strike. He suddenly felt something warm envelop his hand. He turned around and saw Tris holding on to his wrist. "Don't, you'll hurt your arm," she chastised gently. She started to rub comforting circles on his back.

Tobias gulped as she innocently soothed him. Why did the smallest of actions make him feel like he could break underneath her touch? Why did this feel too intimate? _Maybe she likes you..._

_Don't be stupid,_ he scolded himself. _She has much better taste._

Then again, Shauna had a crush on Zeke, so anything was possible.

The possibility of Tris liking him made his heart leap in his chest. He wished it didn't though, he didn't want to get his hopes up too high. She was just soothing his back because of that painful smack from Shauna. That was just a friendly gesture, nothing more. Maybe her reason for doing that was that she pitied him. He wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. He was very sure that she didn't like him in that way.

The two other kids in the room however, were quick to jump to conclusions. They wolf-whistled and catcalled at the 'lovely couple'. Tobias shot them a warning look and that immediately shut them up.

He gently pulled himself away from Tris' tiny hands and gave her a smile. She smiled back, but he could tell that it wasn't natural. Why did she look so sad?

His phone suddenly blasted out epic music. His ringtone; someone was calling him. He swiped across the screen and put it to his ear. "Hey Eric!"

Zeke and Shauna immediately ran over to him, asking him to turn it to speaker. While they were all chatting with their friend, Tris walked out of the room unnoticed. Well, unnoticed by anyone unless you counted her observant pet.

She walked on until she reached the staircase. She sat on one of the steps and put her head in her hands. A soft nudge in her side made her turn in that direction. Manami rubbed her head against Tris' thigh. Seeing it as a prompt to explain why she was feeling this way, she started talking. A young girl, telling a cat about her problems. If one were to pass by, they'd think that girl was crazy. However, Tris had no one else to confide in.

_What about Tobias?_ She asked herself. He was kind, caring, and understanding after all.

A shake of her head was the response to her own question. _Why would I tell him when this problem involves him? It'd be embarrassing._

She stroked her only trusted companion at the moment and sucked in a deep breath. "Remember earlier on when we were all teasing Zeke and Shauna about being in love? Well... When I went to soothe Tobias after he got a painful smack, they teased us back."

The cat laid her head in the little girl's lap, encouraging her to go on.

"I felt bad for him... I mean, to be accused of liking me... Surely he could've found someone better. Who would wanna be in a relationship with a girl from the streets?"

The tears came unintentionally. Why was she crying? She had no reason to cry. She rubbed her eyes roughly with the back of her hand and gritted her teeth. She couldn't let herself cry if she wanted to be a tough girl. She couldn't cry if she didn't want pity. Hopefully there wasn't anyone around her to see her in this state.

It was strange how the existence of tears was simply meant to cleanse eyes. Why would they come when one was feeling sad?

And why did crying make one feel so... Sleepy?

**~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~**

Tris was jolted awake with a gentle shake on the shoulder. She turned to see the pale hand which belonged to Evelyn. Looking at her, you'd think every part of her was elegant and grand. The last thing Tris expected to see were short and brittle nails, with scabs along the nail beds. It was almost exactly like her own fingers when she was nervous, especially when it was before a test.

Did Evelyn... Bite them?

"Hey, Tris," she said softly as she smoothed her hand over the child's head. "What are you doing here? Tobias was so worried that you'd gone and left the house."

"Huh?" Tris murmured, still sleepy. Through her hazy eyesight, she managed to see an outline of a boy slightly older than her. She already knew who it was, but dared not look directly into his eyes after what happened in his room earlier. "Come, Tris," Evelyn stretched her arm out toward her. "It's past dinner time, you must be hungry."

All the lights in the hallways were lit, making it seem as if the sun was still shining outside. Instead of having her meal in Tobias' bedroom, she ate in the dining room with all the fancy chandeliers and curtains and candles. She honestly doubted if she was even in the twenty-first century.

"Bon appétit, mademoiselle," Tori winked at her as she served her the dish. It wasn't until Tris had a bite of the food that she realised how hungry she was. She scarfed everything down within five minutes. She let out a satisfied hum and then slumped back in the chair. Evelyn smiled, "I take it that it was delicious?"

Tris was about to reply but a soft belch beat her to it. She grinned sheepishly and looked down at her lap, embarrassed. Of all times the air had to come out, it had to be now. The middle aged lady simply laughed and walked behind her. Tris suddenly felt elegant fingers in her hair. Oh gosh, she hadn't really taken care of her hair since Christmas.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Evelyn broke it. "Tori might be just an eighteen year old, but her cooking skills are incredible. She's also amazing at making drinks, qualified to be a bartender."

Tris nodded slightly, not wanting to trap Evelyn's fingers in the tangles. She did not really knowing what those words meant, though. What was a bartender? Was it tender and juicy meat in the shape of a chocolate bar? But why would Tori be qualified to be meat?

"Tris, why did you suddenly leave the room? Manami wasn't there either. I was afraid you had run away," Tobias murmured softly as he clutched the calico cat gently. Tris immediately looked away. Dang it, she almost remembered to forget he was here. This was the last thing she wanted to talk about at that moment. Did he really have to bring the matter up?

Manami nuzzled up against his chest, already falling asleep. Was it natural for kittens to be so tired? Researching on the behaviour of baby cats was on her mental to-do list. Another thing on that list was to avoid telling Tobias what made her leave earlier on.

Her silence caused thick tension in the air. To ease that tension, Evelyn exclaimed, "Goodness, your hair is so untidy and sticky!"

"Yikes! Sorry you had to put your hand in that mop of mine, Aunt Evelyn!" Tris replied half-heartedly. She would do anything to escape the questioning eyes of Tobias Eaton. Unfortunately, he could tell that was exactly what she was doing.

"Mom, stop helping her. She needs to give me an answer."

She shot her son a look and said in a warning tone, "Tobias..."

"I'm not doing this for myself. I need to know what I or my friends had done to make her do what she did, so that we won't do it again."

She looked down, admitting defeat. What her son just said, she knew it wasn't a lie. She knew he was genuinely concerned for the little girl. "Just tell him, Tris," she coaxed. "It won't do you or anyone any harm."

* * *

**The Sheke ship needs to be recognised more, seriously there are hardly any Sheke fanfics out there and everything is FourTris(not that I've anything to complain abbot that) unlike other fandoms with many other popular ships. :( Give the other ships a chance to shine instead of just mentioning that they're a couple! :D**

**Also, ****進撃****!****巨人中学校 ****JUST STARTED SHOWING ANDNDNAKSJSKKSWKNAODNS THE CHARACTERS ARE SO ****可愛い****! Also, ALLEGIANT COLLECTOR'S EDITION, BUT THEY AREN'T SELLING IT IN SINGAPORE SO I GOTTA ORDER IT ONLINE BUT I'M GONNA GET IT SOON :DDDD**

**What a great reward for the end of exams.**

**Nyaning in the Fear Landscape**

**~~Divergent Kitty (=^ω^=)**


	12. Braids, Hugs, and Chases

**Happy (late) Halloween, guys! Unfortunately, we don't celebrate Halloween here in Singapore. I MISS OUT ON A FREE CHANCE TO COSPLAY AND CARVE PUMPKINS AND SCARE PEOPLE AND GET FREE CANDY. WHAT THE HELL.**

**But yeah, enjoy this chapter!**

**Uri: Divergeennnttttt... Doesssnnn'ttttttt... Beloonnnggggg... Toooo... Divergent Kitteehhhhh... Oooooo... *does arm wavy thing***

**That's not scary, Uriah.**

**Uri: *pouty face***

**But I appreciate the effort.**

**Uri: :D**

**OMFG IMAGINE FREAKING EIGHT YEAR OLD URIAH TRICK-OR-TREATING AS A GHOST OR SOMETHING GAH THAT'D BE SO KEEYOT But then again he doesn't need to, cuz he already is one.**

**Too soon?**

* * *

_She looked down, admitting defeat. What her son just said, she knew it wasn't a lie. She knew he was genuinely concerned for the little girl. "Just tell him, Tris," she coaxed. "It won't do you or anyone any harm."_

Tris stiffened before sighing. "Fine. I left the room because we were accused of liking each other. To save you the embarrassment, I walked out of the room."

"Why did you stay at the steps?"

"I assumed it was good that I was gone because nobody came over to look for me. Besides, I fell asleep." She shrugged as if she didn't feel so rejected.

A wave of guilt washed over Tobias. Instead of playing Pokémon with Eric, Christina, Zeke, and Shauna, he should have immediately looked for her. Instead, he waited two hours before going off on a frantic search. He should not have given in to the addictiveness of the Nintendo game.

He was angry too. He was angry at himself, and the others. Why hadn't he left the room earlier? Why were they so oblivious to the absence of Tris and Manami? No, not everyone was oblivious. Eric wasn't. He was well and fully aware that the girl was not there, he even said it himself.

_"Where did that girl go?" Eric asked in a whisper. Tobias' blood ran cold after realising that true to his words, Tris was not in the room. "I gotta go find her. She might have run away," he said worriedly before turning on his heel. However, Eric was not prepared to let him go._

_"She's not important, it'll be okay if she leaves," he grinned. "Besides, I think she's pretty annoying. And by that, I mean pretty and annoying."_

_Tobias' mouth fell open. He leaned his face so close in to Eric's that he could see the faint scar from the stapler accident on his nose. "Listen here, Eric," he hissed. "I don't care what you think, Tris is important to me. I'm going to find her."_

_They glared at each other for a couple of seconds more until Zeke tackled Tobias to the ground. "Please notice me Senpai!" He screeched._

_"Oh, I notice you alright," Tobias grinned, his anger quickly dissolving because of his ridiculous best friend. "I recognise you as that stupidly crazy Kouhai!"_

_At that moment, Shauna began to hum the Pokémon battle music. "Trainer Ezekiel Pedrad wants to battle!" He groaned at the use of Zeke's full name. She really just had to use every single chance she got to flirt with Zeke. "Trainer Ezekiel sent out Blastoise!"_

_She looked at Tobias as a cue. He shouted, "Go, Charizard!" And quickly grabbed his Charizard plush and threw it in the space between Zeke and him. There was a Blastoise figure around somewhere, but they were too lazy to find it among the mess of Pokémon merchandise stuffed in Tobias' drawer._

_"What will Tobias Eaton do? Fight? Item? Pokémon? Run away?" Shauna commentated excitedly. He hummed for a short while before whipping out his 3DS from his pocket. "I choose to play the actual game!"_

And just like that, the responsibility to look for Tris was completely neglected because of the addictive drug called a video game. His stomach lurched at the thought of how selfish he had been. He was so caught up with playing video games that he forgot to care for his guest, a young girl who went through a bit too much drama for an eight year old to handle.

Tobias looked down and away from her questioning gaze. "Am I unimportant to you?" She asked, hurt lacing her tiny and weak voice. His eyes widened at her assumption.

"No! I mean, you are very important to—"

"I appreciate the effort put in to make me feel better. However, you have to stop being so dishonest. If you want me to leave, just tell me. I stayed just in case you actually wanted me to, but I see that my guess is wrong."

He gulped as a tear rolled down her cheek. She fixed her fringe in a discreet attempt to wipe away the tear streak. Evelyn's hands paused their work, still holding onto the several strands of blonde hair. She looked at her son expectedly. Oh, what a fix he was in. How was he supposed to comfort a crying child?

_Just tell the truth,_ Christina always said. _If your intentions are good, just tell the truth. There won't be any harm done._

He placed his hand awkwardly over Tris', who made no move to reject his warmth. "I don't think you're no important. You are very important. I was just too busy playing video games, that's all," he explained truthfully. It wouldn't hurt if he had good intentions, right?

Wrong.

She suddenly found their hand contact more interesting than the conversation and focused more on that. "You didn't invite me to play a game that actually works."

He immediately tensed up, accidentally holding Manami a bit more tightly than intended. She fidgeted a little before going back to sleep. He sucked in a deep breath nervously. _Just tell the truth._ "Er, what I meant was that I needed time to catch up with my friends without you around—"

"So I'm a burden then. An annoying person. A clingy little fly who wouldn't leave the food no matter how much you force it to."

So much for being honest. "That's not what I'm saying!" He cried out indignantly. Why would she think of him like that? He was not a monster. Hopefully.

"That's what it seems to me, anyway. Thank you for telling me the truth, Tobias. Thank you for allowing me to stay," she mumbled politely before shaking Tobias' hand off hers and walking away. She had only managed to go a few metres forward when she felt a warmth enclose around her forearm, preventing her from leaving.

It was Tobias' hand that tugged her back towards him. "I'm sorry, Tris. I'm not good with words. Don't go, we don't want you to. Please stay," he begged, giving her the puppy dog look. She whined childishly and stomped her foot. If one were to look up "stubborn kid" in the dictionary, they would find Tris' picture in the examples.

"Please..." He pouted even more. Evelyn almost burst out laughing at her son's cute persistence. Nobody could possibly reject him when he made that face. Sighing, Tris conceded. "Fine, I guess I'll stay since that's what you want. But don't think that I'm staying here for your sake, I just like it here," she muttered, looking away from Tobias with a small scowl on her face.

He laughed and pulled her gently into his arms. "You're such a tsundere, Tris."

"A soon-there-what?"

"Never mind, it's a bit hard for you to understand," he said as he buried his face in the crook of her neck, not really something that appropriate for a kid who was still in junior high to do. "However, you are indeed actually staying here because you'd miss me if you left."

She bit the inside of her cheek and said defensively, "No, I wouldn't!"

A light chuckle made its way out of his lips and she felt it resonating in her body. "Admit it Tris, you would miss me and you do care about the amount of attention I give you. You indirectly conveyed that to me earlier on." She merely grumbled in response, unable to find a good retort.

She still refused to say how right he was, though. Whatever, she was fully aware that he won anyway. Stupid, quick thinking ten year old brat. _A handsome brat at that..._ She thought dreamily.

Wait, why was she thinking that? They had only met literally less than a week ago for goodness' sake!

She was snapped out of her trance by a hand running through her hair again. It didn't startle her; in fact, it made her feel more at peace than anything else. Being in the arms of a sweet boy and having a mother figure dote on you despite having known you for such a short time... What more could Tris want?

Speaking of mother... She really should ask them about calling the police to help get her back to her parents. It was really nice to live with the Eaton family(more of Aunt Evelyn and Tobias and his friends, though) but it would be even better if she managed to reunite with her own family.

"Aunt Evelyn?" She asked. The middle-aged woman hummed in response, continuing to stroke her hair. "If it's not too much to ask, do you think you could send me—"

"Ew, Tris! Your hair is sticky! Don't tell me you drooled on it!" Tobias cried out in disgust as he pulled away from her to stare at his hands as if there were some poisonous growth on it.

"Hey, I don't do gross things like that in my sleep!" She said defensively with an adorably grumpy face. He could not help but laugh at how cute she could be. "Don't laugh at me!" She huffed.

Evelyn chuckled, "He's right though, I think you really might have let a little saliva slip out while you were conked out." Before Tris could defend herself, she added on, "Don't worry, you do these things unconsciously."

Tris nodded, grateful that she didn't laugh at her for being so unhygienic. Sure it wasn't like she was doing these things intentionally, but it still felt uncivilised to her. And was her hair really that bad? She brought one strand to her face to smell it and immediately wished she didn't.

How could she smell so terrible?

Seeing the regret on her face, Evelyn tried not to laugh. "I think you better take a bath before it's late. It tends to get even more chilly at night, and you might catch a cold if you don't bathe as soon as possible."

"Okay!" Tris said cheerfully before skipping her way out of the dining room, Manami trailing behind loyally. As soon as she was gone, Tobias snickered to his mother in a whisper, "You just wanted her to bathe because you can't stand the smell of sweat."

"Shush, Tobias Eaton."

**~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~**

Tris came out of the shower looking much cleaner than before, especially her hair. The dim light accentuated her shiny blonde strands and the collar of the shirt she was wearing kept on slipping off her left shoulder. After several failed attempts to make it stay, she gave up and let it be with a sigh.

She plopped down on the bed and looked out the window, bored. Something furry rubbed against her ankle, demanding that she picked the little cat up. She did so and placed her on her lap.

"Now it's time to braid your hair now that it's much easier to work with!" Evelyn exclaimed cheerfully before sitting down behind the petite child. "Which one do you want, a french braid, fishtail braid, or others?"

"I don't know what they are, so any one of them."

While she was styling Tris' hair, Tobias decided to entertain her. He found a pink rubber band—definitely have to have been left behind by Christina—and gave it to her. She stared it for a while, wondering what she could do with it. Suddenly, her eyes brightened. She grabbed a long tuft of fur in between Manami's ears and tied it up. The two children found it pretty amusing.

The victim however, didn't. She kept on squirming, trying her best to get the rubber band off but to no avail. Sensing her discomfort, Tris removed it, accidentally pulling out a few strands in the process.

Manami hissed at the pain. "Feeling better?" Tris asked. The cat's response was to move her tail upward and flick her face.

"What a grateful pet," he commented sarcastically, petting her head. "Yet still so lovable."

"Well, cats are evil. Yeah, they are adorable, but they are also evil!" Tris bared her teeth and curled her hands as if she had paws. "Fear me!"

"No." He said it short and sharp. "I don't fear little shorties like you." Tris gasped. Oh, he did _not_ just say that.

"I'll kill you, Tobias!" She shouted. He winked and stuck his tongue out to tease her further. "Catch me now first!"

Unfortunately for her, she was unable to move since Evelyn was still braiding her hair. He just _had_ to rile her up while she was restrained. What a cowardly way to go.

He continued to run around the room like a maniac, teasing or poking Tris every chance he got. It was no surprise that she got really pissed off after a while. Finally, Evelyn was done with her hair.

"You're free now, Tris. Go get him," she whispered. Tris grinned and waited for him to run past the bed. When he did, she leapt from the blanket and onto his back, knocking him to the ground. "Tobias!" She shrieked.

"Oh crap!" He exclaimed and wiggled his way out of her grasp easily. Tris was not one to go down without a fight, so it was no surprise to see her attempting to pin the boy to the ground. However, no matter how hard she tried, she could never do it.

"Why do you have to be so strong?!" She questioned, struggling to get him off her. He simply shrugged in response, the corners of his lips twitching upwards. He still refused to let her go.

"Ugh," Tris groaned as he smirked at his victory. However, she held back a smile too.

* * *

**Tsundere Tris is one of the best things I've ever written xD And if you don't know what's a tsundere, Google is your best friend.**

**And I know a lot of you are sick and tired of the flashback. I'm so sorry, I didn't realise I was dragging it out until you guys mentioned it to me! Sorry for making this story boring... :s But I'll probably go Back To The Future(see what I did there? ;)) in at most, eight chapters. AT MOST. I'LL TRY TO MAKE IT AS SHORT AS POSSIBLE. MAYBE EVEN SHORTER THAN LEVI ACKERMAN. THAT WOULD BE REALLY SHORT IF THAT WERE THE CASE.**

**Nyaning in the Fear Landscape**

**~~Divergent Kitty (=^ω^=)**


	13. Passwords, Slip-ups, and Errands

**Okay I'm sorry that I'm really dragging this story out. I would've just skipped this chapter and updated the one after that but if I do that I won't have enough chapters in advance. Plus, I'm writing another story so it'd be even tougher. Besides, this chapter has a pretty important plot point. The banter between Evelyn and Tori isn't really needed but I already wrote it and I don't wanna delete that part and post a half-assed chapter.**

**Better to have an actual chapter with useless content than a small chapter with only the important points, right? I still feel like a shitty writer to you guys tho, writing a crap useless chapter and updating late. So sorry about that.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent, I only own this crap chapter. :/**

* * *

_"Ugh," Tris groaned as he smirked at his victory. However, she held back a smile too._

Evelyn walked back to her bedroom, thinking about the young girl. She was too young, too precious. She did not deserve this kind of traumatic experience at such a young age. However, if one were to tell her that Tris almost got raped literally a few days ago, she would not have believed it. 'That girl who was so chipper? Sexually harassed a few days ago? You must've been drunk again!' Would be what she'd say.

That girl could've had a bright future. Now because of that accursed pervert, she couldn't go anywhere, Evelyn thought woefully. If she weren't kidnapped, she would have been able to continue studying, and get a good job, and—

Wait a minute.

Tris could still go to school! All Evelyn needed to do was sign her up. She wouldn't have trouble catching up in her subjects as she came here only a few days ago. It could work.

No, it _will_ work.

She decided to keep her plans away from her husband. There was a high chance that he would object to this idea. Ah, typical of 'selfless' Marcus.

However, if he did find out later, the punishment for her would be much greater. Was it worth it to do this for the young child? She would resume life that she deserved, but Evelyn would get a beating as a result.

Tris just went through one traumatic experience that could have possibly scarred her for life. It was just one, but it left marks that would not heal. Evelyn rolled up her sleeve to see the red lines on her wrist.

It was not like she was depressed or anything. It was true that she had a shitty life, but it never led her to the point that she'd do what an suicidal teenager would do. She had had a fear of sharp objects like penknives. No way in hell would she resort to cutting just to blink away the worries. It would give her a moment of peace, sure, but that moment of relief would not be worth the scars left behind.

She would want to be reminded how those lines got there, but she also did not want to remember, leaving her in a double bind.

What would she do? She was torn between enrolling Tris in a school and not doing so to escape the torture that was no doubt awaiting her as soon as she had done so. _So many questions, so little time,_ thought Evelyn as she turned the knob and swung the door open. The first thing she did was sit at her desk and take out a pen and piece of paper.

Being the smart lady she was, she drew a slightly slanted line in the middle of the paper, separating it into two parts. "PROS", she wrote in blue at the top of the left side, "CONS", she wrote in red on the other. As soon as she had written the two headings, she began to list down certain points under "PROS".

PROS

\- Tris can get an education and live the life she did before she was kidnapped.

\- She can spend more time with Tobias.

\- She can make more friends.

\- She will be happy.

Evelyn started biting the end of the pen for several minutes, thinking of other things she could write there. When she found none, she went on to the other column.

CONS

\- Marcus would not be pleased with me, and that means a night of living hell.

That was all she wrote. There was no other con that she could think of. She honestly expected more than just one.

Since there were more pros than cons, her final decision was made. She got up from the chair and tore the paper up into thin shreds. _Marcus should be on his way to this room right now,_ she thought as she started walking toward the servants' rooms at a faster pace. When she finally got to the room without getting caught, she breathed a sigh of relief and knocked. Once, twice, then three times. A voice from behind the door asked quickly, "Sied ihr das Essen?"

"Nein, wir Sind der Jäger."

The heavy block of wood was opened a crack, just big enough for her to squeeze through. The Japanese girl leaned her entire weight against the door to close it back as soon as Evelyn was in the room. She slumped against the wall once the door was closed. "Please change this door. I don't care how much you deduct from my salary, just make it easier to close this damned thing. It's heavier than the weight of Eric's ego."

Evelyn laughed at Tori's shots that were fired at Eric. Ever since Eric started to address Tori as "that one small eyed yellow skin girl" and made jokes about her heritage, she had been throwing insults at him whenever she got the chance. "Will keep that in mind, Ms Wu. Any other wishes you need fulfilled?"

"You sound like Yato."

"Who's Yato? A Japanese friend of yours?" She smiled affectionately at her goddaughter and ruffled her hair. The teenager looked down sheepishly and muttered something her godmother could not hear. "What was that, Tori? You need to speak louder, an old lady like me wouldn't be able to hear."

"As if you're an old lady! You're only in your thirties!" Tori exclaimed. "Oh yeah, another thing to change. The freaking password. I can't believe we let Tobias choose what we'd have to say."

"Well, at least we'll be able to improve our German speaking skills," Evelyn joked.

"Reciting the same line over and over again is not called improving our German. Also, I don't speak German. I _try_ to speak German. And I fail. Plus, my German vocabulary sucks ass."

Evelyn ignored the foul language. She was used to that from Tori. Since the Japanese language did not have as many curse words as the English language, she was fascinated by the wide variety of profanities. She started memorising one curse word a day, and tried to use them every chance she got. It was quite cute to see her trying to pronounce the words when she was still used to the Japanese vocabulary. She pronounced those words "a-se-ho-re", "bi-chi", "ba-su-to-de" and "fu-a-ku".

Every now and then, she would accidentally pronounce a word using the Japanese kanji pronunciations. Whenever that happened, she would go to her room and stay there and huddle underneath her blanket in embarrassment.

"Your German vocabulary and pronunciation is not that bad! C'mon, say a German phrase, which is _not_ the password," Evelyn persuaded. Tori breathed in and stood with a very straight posture. She then said with a serious face, "Heil Hitler."

Evelyn burst out laughing. That was random! She did not expect that from her. To prevent herself from looking like an idiot, she covered her mouth with her hand. The shredded paper floated down as a result.

How could she completely forget about her main reason for coming to Tori in the first place? More importantly, how did those pieces of paper not fall out of her hand throughout the entire conversation?

"Hey Aunt Evelyn, what's that?" She asked, pointing at the small pieces of white. She could only make out a few letters, and tried to piece them together. She scooped them up in her hands to take a closer look.

Evelyn bent down to Tori's eye level and said in a low voice, "Don't tell anyone, okay? Especially Marcus."

The girl's eyes widened in horror. Anything that Evelyn tried to hide from her husband was usually found out by him sooner or later, and would have terrible consequences. Whenever she needed something to be hidden away from him, the first person she would always go to would be Tori. Despite every bit of effort she put in to make sure Evelyn would not get found out, he would still discover what she had been doing while he was gone. This would not be any different.

The last time she asked such a favour from Tori, it was to get rid of all history about her involvement in a charity event. She did it easily, yet Marcus still knew about it. Evelyn wasn't aware that he had ties with the charity organisers who thought he was a saint. They only thought of him that way because they did not know what he was like without his shiny golden halo.

There were other things she needed Tori's help with. Those tasks weren't really as good-natured. She asked her for help to cover up her tracks when she stole money from Marcus' bank account to buy Tobias gifts. She managed to hack into the account to change the amount of course, but Marcus was able to snuff everything out like a police mutt.

What did Evelyn need help with now?

She gave Tori the paper bits and whispered, "Burn these."

_And...?_

Wait, that was it? That was all Evelyn requested?! How anticlimactic.

"Okay..." Tori muttered in confusion. "But don't tell Marcus what?"

Evelyn looked around as if someone were hiding in the room and listening to every single word she was saying. There was obviously nobody there, since Tori was the only person in the room before Evelyn entered. _Better to be careful,_ she thought warily. After being sure that nobody else was there, she went on to explain.

"Tris was obviously still in school before she got here, right? No eight year old wouldn't be in school by now." Tori nodded. She was well aware of how education worked for youths from financially stable families. "But I realised if she does not continue going to school, she won't be able to get a job and live well. So what I decided to do is—"

"—Send her to a school?" Tori finished. Evelyn smiled. "Yes." The teenager gasped in excitement. "You're so awesome, Aunt Evelyn! I can't believe you would be so kind to do this for Tris! Sugoi desu!" She squealed, not realising that she just spoke the language of her home nation.

A good three seconds of awkward silence was broken by Evelyn's loud laughter. "'Sugoi desu'?! Isn't that Japanese for amazing?! Oh goodness, you just had one of your Japanese slip-ups!"

Tori crossed her arms and looked away in embarrassment. "Shut up, Aunt Evelyn! You have no idea how hard it is to continue speaking English whenever I'm excited! You try being excited and not squealing like a Japanese schoolgirl as if Senpai just noticed her!"

Her godmother could not stop laughing. It really was amusing to see Tori acting and sounding like those typical anime girls.

She had enough. She yanked the door open and pushed her out. "Get outta here! Gah! So embarrassing!"

"Remember to—"

"Yes, I know, now get the fuck out!"

The door slammed behind Evelyn and then was opened again. Tori waltzed up to the older lady and kissed her cheek. "Goodnight Aunt Evelyn!" She smiled. Suddenly, her expression changed again. This time, she was squinting. "I'm watching you."

_SLAM!_

Her gaze remained on the door for a few more seconds and then a shout came from the inside, "I know you're still there, Aunt Evelyn!" She hurried down the hallway before Tori could come after her again. Laughing to herself, she thought about how cute and funny her goddaughter could be.

* * *

**Sorry for the terrible chapter. I don't want this story to be only about FourTris, and FourTris alone. I want the other characters to get more love, but I guess this was overdoing it. *sigh* Sorry for useless subplot about Tori being Evelyn's goddaughter. Although if you're interested I could write a one-shot about that...? You guys probably won't be interested in it but hey I can write it if you want!**

**Sorry, I'm really nervous right now. I feel absolutely terrified that I might get hate reviews on dragging this out.**

**I know I have apologised a bajillion times, but I am so sincerely sorry for this shit chapter.**

**Nyaning in the Fear Landscape**

**~~Divergent Kitty (=^ω^=)**


	14. School, Bento, and Nicknames

**Okay, apologies for the late update because I'M CURRENTLY IN TAIWAN :DDDD I WENT TO THE HIGHEST REACHABLE PEAK IN TAIWAN WHERE IT WAS THREE DEGREES CELSIUS AND I WAS FREEZING MY ASS OFF AND I WENT TO OTAKULAND AKA XIMENDING AND I BOUGHT A MATCHING SNK KEYCHAIN WITH ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS AND A KAWAII TEENY TINY CHIBI MINIFIGURE OF SEBASTIAN MICHAELIS AND AN EREN JAEGER MINIFIGURE AND THE FUCKING LEVI NENDOROID ASDFGHJKL**

**Okay I'm done xD**

***all wrapped up in winter clothes at the top of the mountain* Do I own Divergent?**

**Uri: *in thin clothes* *teeth chattering* N-no... Y-y-you d-d-don't...**

**Aw... :( poor Uriah. *hugs* Better?**

**Uri: Yes~ ^-^**

_Her gaze remained on the door for a few more seconds and then a shout came from the inside, "I know you're still there, Aunt Evelyn!" She hurried down the hallway before Tori could come after her again. Laughing to herself, she thought about how cute and funny her goddaughter could be._

"School?" Tris asked unsurely.

Evelyn nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! You should be having classes right now, instead of wasting this winter away."

Tris fiddled nervously with the sleeve of her shirt. Well technically, it was Tobias'. Hana was busy, so she couldn't help make Christina's outfits less skimpy. She might be slightly larger sized compared to the skinny and frail blonde, but for some reason her outfits revealed more skin. Tobias' shirts might dwarf her in size when she wore them but at least they covered up. It was a quality much needed due to the current dropping temperatures.

"I... I'm grateful for all that you're doing for me, Aunt Evelyn, I really am. I just..." She trailed off. How could she reject the offer without offending the middle aged lady? Despite learning the English language for eight years, her vocabulary was very limited.

_Maybe if I told her what I mean to tell her, she could help me word it out,_ Tris thought. That cute little eight year old had a very precious way of thinking. "I wanna say no without being a meanie. How do I say it?"

Evelyn stared at her before bursting into a fit of ladylike giggles. Tris shifted awkwardly. She didn't really know what Evelyn was laughing about.

She managed to quickly regain her composure and cleared her throat. "Tris, I know you must be thinking that I'm doing far too much for you. I actually just want to give you the feel of a proper home until we get you back to your family."

Family. A word that used to be so easily understandable to Tris, the definition now completely unknown to her. It was scary what a good seven days could do to you.

Yet, one look at the photograph in her pendant made her remember what 'family' meant. It was a group of people, closer than friends. People you could confide in. People you could trust. People who would never ever betray you.

The only thing left of family was the white, orange and black feline and this piece of gold and diamond jewellery.

"Tris? Tris!" Evelyn was snapping her fingers in front of the child's face. She snapped back to reality upon hearing the panic in the older lady's voice. She sighed in relief as soon as she got Tris' attention.

"Sorry, Aunt Evelyn. I forgot to mention, I tend to zone out sometimes," she grinned sheepishly, hoping her cheeks were stretched far enough to convince Evelyn. Thankfully, she laughed in response and waved it off. "Don't worry about it! I stare into space at random moments too."

As soon as her laughter died down, she was back to her serious mode. "We really want you to go to school while you're staying with us," she murmured kindly.

Desperate to avoid the topic, Tris asked, "Who's 'we'?" The 'we' surely couldn't include Mr Eaton. She was quite certain the master of the house wasn't as hospitable as his wife. Yet for some reason, she was given the offer to study. Evelyn definitely had to have asked him for his approval first before coming to her, right? It was a rather long process to get a child signed up for school, unless being rich changed that as well.

A hearty laugh made its way out of Evelyn's lips again. "I'm pretty sure you know who 'we' are. Me, Tori, Zeke, Shauna, Eric, Uriah, Hana, and of course, Tobias. In fact, some of us whom you haven't met yet want you to go out there and learn."

This caught Tris' attention. "Other people which I don't know?"

Evelyn's delicate finger rested atop the little girl's tiny nose; a boop, if Tris remembered correctly. "Not 'which', it's 'other people who I don't know'. 'Which' and 'that' are used for objects and animals, whereas 'who' are for people."

"I never knew that, that's interesting," Tris murmured thoughtfully. Evelyn decided to use this moment to her advantage. "School does let you know new things everyday."

"I..."

"It'll be fun to learn new things and meet new friends in school, so go for it," she coaxed the stubborn child. Said stubborn child huffed, not willing to give in. "Nothing you do can change my mind."

Unfortunately for her, she completely forgot about Tobias' eyes.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

"I might need—no, _have_—to take you to go shopping with me one day. You really need a wardrobe of your own since you'll be staying here longer than expected."

"Shopping?" Tris groaned. "I don't really like to shop for clothes..."

The tanned girl walking in front stopped in her tracks and turned around slowly, the look on her face a mixture of disbelief and disgust. "Are you freaking kidding me?!"

Heads turned in their direction upon hearing the shrill yell.

_Since Christina was her age, she had to lead Tris around and introduce her to every new thing in elementary. First of all, an appropriate outfit. It was hard choosing something at least half modest for Tris. Everything she wore was either too big, too tight, too revealing, or all three at the same time.(Yes, those that fit all three categories were Christina's clothes.) She thought that the shirts she was already wearing at home were alright, but Chris didn't think so._

_"What's wrong with these ones? They fit me just fine," Tris insisted. The younger Eaton, however, thought otherwise. "They don't fit you perfectly. Sure they might be the closest thing you've got to a normal outfit, but they're still slightly oversized."_

_That was true, but not exactly a valid reason. The school wouldn't actually care if Tris wore all that to class. It was just that Chris was slightly irked that this girl was wearing her big brother's clothes. For crying out loud, he was naked under that shirt at one point or another, his bare skin in contact with the fabric, and Tris was making that same contact. So technically they were having an indirect chest touch, shoulder touch, arm touch and back touch, and goodness if she was wearing the same pants he did..._

_Bile rose in her throat and she tried her best not to throw up. Ew. No. Christina. Get. Your. Head. Out. Of. The. Gutter._

_A slap to the face and a head-butt to the pillow finally got rid of the image. Just by a little. The main idea unfortunately lingered._

And here she was, guiding this girl through the hallways. The same girl who could have been having an indirect naked hug with Christina's big brother if she hadn't advised her not to. _What the hell did I just say, Ms I-can't-help-but-think-dirty-thoughts-all-the-time?!_

It was really tough trying not to live up to that name, thanks to the immature influences she called her friends.

The friends who were heading their way at that very moment.

"Chris-tee-naaaaaa!"

Christina winced at the sound of her name and hunched her back and reached her arms out, bracing herself for the impact. Tris noticed the weird stance she had, wondering what she was doing that for.

The answer was the hyper kid named Uriah.

"Hi Chris! Ooh! Hi Tris!" He exclaimed excitedly as he knocked the tanned girl over and leaped over her 'dead body' to reach the other girl. "Woah what are you doing here, Trissy?"

"Uh, learning I guess?" She stuttered nervously, overwhelmed by him and his enthusiasm. "And my name isn't Trissy!"

"Now it is," he smirked playfully.

She was about to launch a retort but a pair of warm, brown eyes appearing randomly in front of her face made her squeak in surprise. It caused a chain reaction, making the person with those eyes squeak as well. That scratchy and cute sound quickly turned into loud laughter. Tris stood there awkwardly, watching that girl laugh on her own.

After composing herself, that girl smiled sweetly at the other. "Hi, I don't believe we've met. I'm Marlene."

This girl, Marlene, had bright orange-blonde hair that ended just beyond her shoulders. She donned a bright peach coloured woolen sweater along with a flowing white skirt that reached her calves. Her feet were covered by shiny black shoes with white socks. Such a proper and elegant attire.

And what was Tris wearing? A green blouse and a pair of oversized track pants that didn't even match. What choice did she have, though? Every single one of Tobias' clothes was immediately rejected by Christina and she insisted Tris wore one of hers.

"I'm Tris," she replied. "It's nice to meet you."

Marlene smiled again. "Guess the feeling's mutual!"

This girl had to have been sent down from the heavens.

"Christina brought you here?"

"Yep," Tris nodded. "She should be helping me get settled here. Speaking of which, Christina..." She craned her neck to check on the brunette and saw her...

Kissing... A boy's... Cheek...

A light pink coloured that boy's face, a shade that matched Tris' own. Christina wore a smug smile when she saw how flustered he got. She stood on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear. It was clear that Tris wasn't supposed to hear it, but Chris was doing a terrible job at being discreet.

"Don't let my brother find out about us."

Another kiss, this time on the other cheek.

It was rude to stare, Tris knew. Public displays of affection made her uncomfortable, yet at the same time curious. _What would it be like to kiss a boy?_

She squeezed her eyes tight and shook her head. _Now isn't the appropriate age to be thinking these things! What's important now is getting signed up._

"Um, Christina..." She trailed off, the image of the girl kissing the boy burning in her head, making it even harder for her to speak to Chris.

Another shake of the head to get rid of the jitters.

"You need to accompany me to get my timetable."

"Huh? Oh, yes!" Christina jerked her head in Tris' direction, as if snapping out of a trance. Yeah, a trance called _love_. In the third grade. She cleared her throat, "I'll bring you to the office."

Her hand clasped around Tris' upper arm, dragging her away from the others. When they turned a corner, Christina let go of Tris only to grab her by the shoulders and shove her into a wall.

"Ow!"

"Don't tell Tobias!" She screeched frantically in a whisper. "Whatever you do, do _not_ tell him!"

"Tell him what?" Tris asked. She really didn't want to embarrass Christina by letting her know she was watching. Thankfully, she was a pretty good liar.

However, Christina was an even better lie detector. "I know you saw me kissing him, don't pretend you didn't," she hissed. "I don't know you that well, but what I _do_ know is that you're very close to my brother. You might tell on me. Please don't let him know, he'll kill Will and separate us!"

Her voice was shaking and she was really panicky at that moment. Was she really that smitten with this boy, Will?

Hearing no response, she tried again to get her point across. "Please!"

"Okay, okay! I won't tell him about it, I promise," Tris said, looking Christina straight in the eye, showing that she was serious.

Christina sighed in relief and released Tris. "Thanks."

"I'll keep my promise, don't worry."

They continued to go on their way to the office in silence. Tris' shoulders throbbed. Goodness, was Christina even human? Her grip was really tight and strong for an eight year old fashionista.

They eventually reached a pair of glass doors. Christina told Tris to wait outside for her while she went in to help fetch her stuff. She came back with a slip of paper.

"Your locker is right next to Will's," she commented thoughtfully.

"Really? That's... Cool?" In all honesty, Tris wasn't really that keen to be locker buddies with a guy who had been kissed by the girl walking right beside her.

"Can I please switch lockers with you?" Christina burst out.

"Is that even allowed?!"

"I'm just kidding, mine is just a couple feet away from his," she laughed at Tris' facial expression. Realising that she was just pulling her leg, Tris flicked Christina's ear.

"You actually thought I was that desperate to be with Will?"

"Yeah, and I'm sorry that I know nothing about love!" She flushed. Christina gaped at her. "You know nothing about... _Love_?"

That was the wrong thing to say.

"Tris Prior has never had a crush before?!" She laughed in disbelief. Tris looked away so that Christina wouldn't see the blush. "Shut up."

"So it _is_ true!"

"We're only eight!"

"Ah, but you'll be surprised."

Tris glanced at Christina for a moment before turning her gaze back to the front. _Surprised about what?_

**~•~•~•~•~During recess~•~•~•~•~**

Uriah grabbed his tray of Japanese food and walked back to his usual spot at the table. His usual spot, of course, was next to Marlene.

Oh, and Lynn as well.

He put the tray on the table with a loud clang. Lynn noticed what was on it and sighed. "Really, Uranus? Teriyaki chicken and fried ebi again?"

Tris leaned over the table to get a better look at the meal. She had seen this type of dish before, it was called a bento box. There was rice, chicken chop with teriyaki sauce drizzled all over it, and these crispy looking orange-yellow oval shaped things. It smelled so delicious...

"What? I can't help it! Ever since Tobias introduced me to this bento set, I've fallen in love with it!" Uriah exclaimed. "Also, don't call me Uranus!"

"Whatever... Uranus."

Christina nearly spat out her water when she heard that nickname.

"Stop it, Lynn," Marlene chastised. Uriah's face lightened up upon hearing her defend him. She leaned back in the chair and added coolly, "Give others a chance to call him that."

Uriah mouth dropped. "M-Marlene! How could you be such a meanie! Marlene the meanie, meanie Marlene! Marlenie!" He pointed a finger at her.

"Uranus!"

"Marlenie!"

"Uranus!"

"Trissy!" He called out randomly. Tris' spoon was halfway to her mouth when she heard that annoying nickname being called. Uriah was hoping if she stepped in(or was forced in), she would pick his side. However, he was wrong.

She stuffed the spoonful of rice in her mouth and chewed. After swallowing, she sang, "U-ra-nus..."

"Ha!" Marlene cheered triumphantly. The boy pouted and sank down in his chair. A few students walked by, and he got an idea. He called out those randomly passing by students' nicknames, "Leaky Zekey! Shazzy! Totoro!"

Okay, maybe those students weren't really randomly walking past a random table.

The three older students exchanged glances before nodding. They turned to the younger kid and yelled in chorus, "Shut up, Uranus!"

Everyone burst out laughing at Uriah's even more pitiful face. He crossed his arms and huffed. "Stupid Lynn," he muttered under his breath. Lynn heard that remark and stuck her tongue out playfully at him. He splashed his glass of water in her face as revenge. Even more laughter erupted at the table.

As if this group of friends couldn't get any more ridiculous.

A boy appeared in Tris' periphery; Tobias. He leaned in to her ear and whispered, "Welcome to Dauntless Elementary."

She turned to him and saw a wide grin on his face. One thing she learnt about him in the past week was that his smiles were really contagious.

Another thing that was contagious was the others' laughter. She turned her attention back to the friends and was glad she did so. This time instead of splashing water on each other's faces, they were slapping each other. The rest of the group were doing the same thing she was: Watching, being entertained by the ridiculous Uriah and melancholic Lynn.

It reminded her of the times she and Caleb teased each other at the dining table as their parents spectated. It might have been seen as fighting, but it was light hearted, showing how close they were.

It was then she realised that the photo in her pendant wasn't the only thing that made her understand what a family was. The people surrounding her did too.

**Writing one part of this chapter with the compilation of Hiroshi Kamiya's laughter playing in the background at night wasn't really the best idea. I couldn't stop laughing and was therefore unable to write xD**

**AN IMPORTANT NOTICE: I wrote a few summaries of a couple of story ideas I have in my bio. I really want to have some feedback on them, and I would really appreciate it if you could tell me what you think of them. :3 You can say it in a review or a PM. You can request that I write a short excerpt from the story you want to see more from, I'll be more than happy to :D**

**The stories: **_**Light Amidst The Darkness**_**, **_**A Song Of Betrayal**_**, and **_**Inked Ashes**_**. These are the genres. LATD: Action, romance, fantasy. ASOB: Betrayal(obviously xD), romance, friendship, angst, tragedy. IA: Action, fantasy, angst, **_**revenge**_**.**

**I decided not to put romance for Inked Ashes, because it isn't the main focus of the story. Besides, and the couple may not be accepted by society and they aren't even canon.**

**Maybe. *looks around nervously***

**Nyaning in the Fear Landscape**

**~~Divergent Kitty (=^ω^=)**


	15. Reunion

**Merry Christmas! :DDDD**

**Happy birthday to the most badass anime character ever, Heichooouuuuu~**

**I think I'm forgetting some other special occasion for 25 December... What is it... OH YES!**

**HAPPY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO A GIFT OF LOVE! X3333**

**I can't believe I've been writing fanfiction for this long. A whole year has passed. Wow, I'm old xD**

**Do I own Divergent? By the way, I hope you love my present.**

**Uri: No, you don't own Divergent. And I swear to God, if it's as bad as last year's blow up doll...**

**Uri: *takes out huge box of bubblegum and sweets* Woah, sweet, literally! Thanks, Trisara!**

**Open it~**

**Uri: Wait what *opens box***

**Uri: ...**

**Uri: *holds up condom from inside box* ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME**

***LAUGHING MY ASS OFF***

***Note: That is inspired from what this girl from my church's camp for youths legit did. We were supposed to buy a present for our parents and she bought a box of condoms and got rid of the condoms and replaced them with chocolate. She said she was stared at judgementally by the lady at the counter xD***

**Without further ado, the special anniversary chapter. Enjoy, my dear butts.**

_It was then she realised that the photo in her pendant wasn't the only thing that made her understand what a family was. The people surrounding her did too._

**~•~•~•~•~Seven years later, 25 December, Christmas~•~•~•~•~**

"Family..." Tris murmurs to herself, staring at herself in the glass reflection. How many years has it been since she saw her family? Eight years. Eight years without Dad, eight years without Mom, eight years without Caleb.

And how many years without her newly found friends? Seven. Only a few months had she spent with them, but somehow it was counted as an extra year. Dates, months and years are truly strange.

_If only the Eaton family had not forced me out. If only Tobias had not found me. If only that kidnapper never existed._

No. It was not any of their faults. The true root of the cause was herself.

_If only I had not been such a stupid and naïve child to fall into a simple trap._

Even though she acknowledges that fact, she still can't push away the feelings of hatred. Why were they such bad people? How could she have ever considered them to be like family? How could she have lumped them in the same category as Mom and Dad and Caleb?

This winter is harsh, as usual. Tris does not have any problems with it, she is already accustomed to the cold. Even during the summer, the icy feeling of rejection still lingers. It might be a little poetic, but it is true. No low temperature can ever beat the frostbite in her heart.

The worst part is that everything around her reminds her of the people she blames for her current demise.

A pair of young boys, obviously brothers, throw snowballs at each other. Eventually, they get tired of it, and decide to attack two of their friends instead. One of them, a short girl, shrieks at the sudden cold. She turns to glare at the smaller of the two brothers who shrugs cheekily. The other girl manages to evade the older brother and even throws a snowball back at him and it hits him right in the face.

He falls to the snow covered ground and the girl bursts into laughter. The younger brother backs him up by giving him a handful of snowballs. It turns into a full out snowball war between the four girls and boys, until their other friends join in of their own accord.

The air is filled with laughter, yet the only sound Tris can hear is the silence of her own loneliness.

Where has she seen something like this before?

Manami meows with her mouth wide open, making her look amused by the sight of the children playing. Tris glances down at the warm furball. Manami has had that exact expression at some point in this life. It was when Tobias and his friends were having a pillow fight. Only then does Tris realise that the two brothers are like Zeke and Uriah, the girls like Marlene and Shauna, and their friends are like the rest of the gang.

That's one reminder.

A shop across the road with bright colours catches her attention. She walks towards it, curious to know what is inside.

It's a bakery. There are all kinds of different pastries in the window. Lemon muffins, cinnamon rolls, pizza buns, and chocolate cake. Tris' mouth waters at the sight, especially at the chocolate cake. However, it doesn't look like it could beat the most chocolate filled cakes ever, the ones that she ate back then...

A second reminder.

"Konnichiwa, Haruka-Sama!"

The door is swung open by a mother and her child. The source of the perky voice is the child with thin shoulder length jet black hair. She places her tiny hands on the counter and tries to push herself up to be able to see the lady at the cashier. The tall lady's eyes are slightly narrow and she has short boyish black hair with a messy fringe. She seems to be of Asian descent.

She giggles, "Konnichiwa, Ciel-Chan! I'm very glad that you are familiar with the basic Japanese greeting! Hey_ Springer_, you sure must be _hella_ proud of little Ciel. At the rate she's going, she's gonna be a fluent speaker."

The red haired lady who seems to be in her late twenties rolls her eyes at the use of her full name. "Well duh, 'course I'm _hella_ proud of little Ciel,_ Tachibana_," she teases. "She begs us idiot parents to bring her to this bakery everyday, both for your word of the day and the pastries!"

"I see, so she picked up her love for bread from her mom!"

"Teach me a new Japanese word, Haruka-Sama!" The short blue eyed girl interrupts excitedly, jumping up and down so much that a thin strand of hair falls across her face.

Haruka smiles and reaches over to ruffle Ciel's hair. "Suki and daisuki."

"Ski? Like on the snowy mountains?" She asks, confused. "Isn't that an English word already?"

Haruka laughs. "No, it's actually su-ki. You just say it very fast. Suki means love in terms of the romantic sense, whereas daisuki means like, or love in terms of the non-romantic sense for friends or family members."

Of course. Of course the word Tris has to hear is the one word that she lacks in her dictionary. It was once there, but the page with the definition got torn out by her friends seven years ago.

"How are you supposed to use it? Teach me, Sensei!"

"Well, if you want to say 'I _love_ strawberries', you just say 'ichigo _daisuki_!'"

Tris walks away before she can hear another word.

That's a third reminder. Anything or anyone Japanese would remind her of a certain Japanese teenager who cooked delicious meals for her. A certain Japanese teenager who goes by the name Tori Wu.

She walks on, praying hard that there wouldn't be anything else that will trigger memories from the past. She shivers both from the cold and the fear of possibly seeing something she doesn't want to. She holds Manami closer to her chest for warmth. She would not have survived the cold if it weren't for the cat's higher temperature. It's depressing to have only one friend, and she isn't even a human being.

A huge screen built into one of the malls flashes with an advertisement for some animated show with kids assembling in school, kids getting shouted at in school and kids getting smacked into rubbish bins by other kids with oversized paper fans in school. The sound emitting from the program booms around the street. A black bar lays at the bottom of the screen. Must be some news channel, Tris concludes.

White words travel across the bar in a swift movement, but she is a fast reader and manages to catch them all.

She immediately wishes she didn't.

"Gamer and programmer who fixed game-breaking bug in record-breaking time hired by dream video game company Bethesda Softworks."

Fourth reminder. If this happened to Tobias, he would be jumping for joy. Tris remembers his passion for programming and video games, as well as his determination to get his games to start working. She almost smiles at the memory of him getting close to tears upon finding out that his beloved game was finally playable again. That game was published by Bethesda Softworks, the company that was just mentioned on the screen.

She can no longer take this mental torture. Her stomach hurts and her throat is scratchy, signs of her hunger and thirst. The clothes draped around her skinny figure are thin and worn out. What she needs are food, water, and warmth. Manami's body heat isn't enough. The poor thing looks rather squished in her mistress' arms, plus her arm muscles are tired out. Carrying your cat everywhere you go sure can drain a lot of your energy, even if said cat is as light as a feather. Tris bends down to let the feline down, her upper body suddenly feeling extremely cold.

A blonde waitress wearing a fantasy-medieval themed long dress with long sleeves that reveal her shoulders around Tris' age notices the latter walking around the area, shivering. She immediately feels sorry for the poor girl. Who wouldn't? This girl is starving, freezing, smells like shit(literal shit) and looks like she was raised from the dead. In all honesty, she wouldn't be surprised if she found out that the girl is actually a zombie.

The difference between the waitress and everyone else is that she decides to take action and actually help Tris instead of just staring at her in pity.

"Hello," she says softly to get Tris' attention. She turns around, shocked that someone even bothered to approach her. "Hi, I'm a waitress for this video game themed café, The Stolen Sweetroll. You look like you need some food to fill up your stomach."

"Oh... Y-Yeah, sure, why not."

The waitress smiles sweetly and grasps Tris' arm. She flinches, the memory of her almost getting raped flitting back for a split second. And it isn't only _that_ memory that is triggered. She _swears_ she has seen this waitress before. Little does she know that the waitress also feels the same way.

"So, what would you like?" She asks as she places the menu on the table in the corner of the café. The menu is a faded yellow scroll. Each of the food have a symbol beside the names to symbolise what it is. To make it even more awesome, there is information on how much health would be regenerated by eating that food or drinking that drink. The design for the menu is to fit in with the whole video game theme. The waitress tries to hold in her excitement from wanting to see Tris' reaction to the unique menu. It was her idea, after all.

"Just warm water please," Tris murmurs quietly without even unrolling the scroll, much to the waitress' dismay. "And warm milk."

"Milk?"

The Calico jumps onto her lap and settles herself there, her tail curling around her body. A tiny smile makes its way onto Tris' face as she pets her faithful companion. "Yeah, milk."

The waitress gasps upon seeing the pet. She knows this cat. She has seen her before. Hell, she even fed her once.

She nods before walking away quickly, heading for the staff room.

"That is Eyepatch, oh my God," the waitress presses a hand to her forehead. She would recognise Eyepatch any day. Her look and fur pattern is very unique. That colour of her fur around her right eye is black, curling around the edge of her eye just nicely. If Eyepatch is here, that means her owner is...

The waitress bursts into her boss' office, the door slamming against the wall loudly. He happened to be drinking coffee at that moment and nearly spat it out because of the sudden intrusion. "Don't you know h-how to... Ack, fucking knock?!" He splutters. "I know you're my fiancé, but still—"

"Tris is here," the waitress cuts him off. "I saw her. Eyepatch is still with her. She's in a very bad state."

He stares at her in disbelief. "You're kidding."

"See for yourself."

She grabs a glass of water and a bowl of steaming hot milk before leading him to Tris' table. She doesn't even notice the man wearing the bright blue jumpsuit, her focus is only on the inviting glass of clear liquid. As soon as the waitress sets it down, Tris' hands are wrapped around it and they stay there, enjoying the warmth. Manami leaps onto the table to lap at the milk.

"Oh my God. Tris?"

She perks up when she hears her name. Her gaze lands on the person who said it, a tanned boy with dark brown hair. "How do you know my name?"

"You don't recognise me?" He pouts. "You hurt my feelings, Prior."

She narrows her eyes at him, trying to put a name to this familiar face. A few seconds pass before her eyes widen. No, it can't be...

"Uriah?"

As soon as she says it, he bursts into happy tears. His arms wrap around her, but she is still too shocked to do anything. The waitress is crying too. _Wait a second._

"Marlene?" Tris says, finally recognising her.

"Yes!" Marlene sobs, walking forward to hug Tris as well. This should not be happening, she is supposed to hate them for abandoning her.

_Actually you know what? Fuck that, I should just enjoy this moment while it lasts,_ she deadpans.

The hugging lasts for longer than Tris wants it to be. When they finally break away, the first thing Uriah does is wipe his nose on his sleeve. Tris tries not to cringe at his antics. Yep, that sure is Uriah, alright. He hasn't changed at all, besides the height and build. Marlene is still perky Marlene, and she's still as short as ever. Then again, Tris is even shorter so she has no right to talk.

"We really need to bring you back to reunite with the gang!" He exclaims, holding her hands in his excitedly. "You remember Tori, my brother, Shauna and Lynn, right?"

Her eyes widen. Yeah, she remembers them clearly... Hopefully this conversation wouldn't go where she doesn't want it to go.

"They'd be delighted to see you again!"

It is going in the direction she thinks it's going. Well, at least she didn't hear his name.

"Especially Tobias!"

_Fuck my life._

"I'm leaving."

Tris gets up from the chair, the legs scraping against the floor. Marlene winces at the sound. Uriah however, is in too much of a confused state to react to the ear-piercing noise. "T-Tris?"

"Thanks for the water. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go back home. Oh wait, I don't have one anymore," she spits coldly. This could have been a happy reunion for them. If only Uriah hadn't mentioned Tobias and unintentionally ruined her mood...

Marlene's jaw drops at Tris' unfriendly tone. She has never heard the blonde girl speak like that before, not even when everything went to hell several years ago. She was always known as the human ray of sunlight back in the Eatons' manor. Tris never frowned; what happened to her during the past seven years?

"Come on, Mana—" She calls out before getting cut off by the cat's coughing fit. The looks of shock on the other two's faces turn to worry in the blink of an eye. "Oh God..."

It is only then they actually take note of how skinny Manami is. The poor thing is literally just a skeleton wearing a fur coat. That is no exaggeration, her look is that bad. A few patches of faded crimson red stand out amongst the dirty white fur.

"The reunion's gotta wait. We have to get Eyepatch to a vet, stat!" Uriah cries out in panic. A couple of the customers in the café shoot him weird looks. Their judgemental gazes do not affect him, though. The only thing that's bothering him is poor Eyepatch's condition.

Tris shakes her head. "There is no need to." Her voice is monotonous, completely devoid of the compassion and happiness she used to have. "This is normal."

"You're just going to let her suffer?!"

"She's fine. She hasn't died yet."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"Guys," Marlene says firmly. "Stop it."

Uriah backs up a little, breathing heavily. Tris however, is completely calm, as if she did not just get into a fight with one of her best friends. Or at least a person who used to be one of her best friends. She isn't so sure about their relationship at the moment. Are they enemies now? Maybe.

"Get Eyepatch to Doctor Elia," Marlene commands her boyfriend. He nods and slips his warm hand under the bony cat to cradle her in his arms. A dark red scarf is wrapped around her tiny and fragile body to keep her warm. She mews weakly, the noise sounding very painful.

"Don't worry, little Eyepatch. The doc will patch you up with no problem. You'll be fine in no time. Trust me," he coos, stroking the feline's head with a feather-like touch, afraid that she might break if he applied too much force. Her eyes close, as if she were satisfied with those words of reassurance.

"She can't understand what you're saying," Tris comments. "You're an idiot for trying to communicate with an animal."

"I don't think I ever remember you being such a cynical bitch," he growls. Marlene pushes him out the door before a guaranteed fight ensues. As soon as he's gone, she glares at Tris.

Even if something absolutely terrible happened to her, it is no excuse for the way she is treating her old friends. Uriah was only trying to help Manami and he was genuinely concerned about her well-being. However, it seems as though Tris doesn't want the help, even though it isn't meant for her.

_Where did the selfless and happy girl go?_

Marlene sighs. If only the others were here, she would feel less lost. Unfortunately, they don't have time to come to the café, and she would feel very guilty to interfere with their busy schedules just because she has a problematic girl in her hands.

She slumps in the seat opposite Tris. What can she do? If this were the old Tris, the problem would have been resolved already. The present Tris is different, and it definitely isn't a good different. Zeke, Shauna, Tori, and Tobias would know what to do, especially Tobias. It's too bad they aren't free to come down anytime soon.

Unless...

Marlene yanks on Tris' arm and drags her out of the café. "H-hey! What the fuck are you doing?! Let go of me!" She exclaims, trying to wrench Marlene's hand off her.

The taller blonde says nothing as she shoves the dirty teenager into a cab. "1370 Piccard Drive, Suite 120 Rockville," she tells the driver.

Throughout the entire ride, Tris is scowling and Marlene is looking very determined. For what reason, Tris does not know. Whatever it is, she doesn't like it. She doesn't like anything that the people who abandoned her are planning.

They car stops outside a tall office building with the words "Bethesda Game Studios" on it. Marlene pushes the door open and beckons Tris to come out as well.

"No," she says stubbornly, "I don't like the fact that I bumped into you and Uriah in that café, I don't like the fact that you told Uriah to take Manami away, I don't like the fact that I had to join you in this taxi, and I don't like the fact that you are commanding me to follow you wherever you're going. In short, I don't like you."

"Didn't need a magnifying glass to figure that out," Marlene rolls her eyes. "Now get out of this cab and follow me. If not you're gonna have to pay the fare."

Tris glares at her before sighing and stepping out into the bitter cold. As much as she hates it, she has no choice but to bend to Marlene's will. _Damn this girl and her manipulation._

As they walk in through the glass doors, she holds her phone to the side of her face. Tris strains her ears to hear whatever she is saying, but she knows Tris would want to listen in. Much to her annoyance, Marlene stays out of earshot. The only part of the call she manages to catch is the end of it.

"Thanks so much! Tell her that we'll be waiting in the lobby."

Marlene puts the phone back in her pocket and leans against the wall, waiting for whoever she is waiting for. Her hand is still latched tightly onto Tris' dirty sleeve, giving her no chance to escape. She groans and stares unhappily at the floor.

A few minutes later, a well dressed lady with a bright smile approaches them. Marlene returns that smile while Tris continues brooding.

"Hey Myra," she greets.

"Future Mrs Younger Pedrad, it's a bit of a surprise to see you visiting at this hour," Myra smiles, her greeting making Marlene giggle. She leads them to the elevator and presses her fingertip against the button to go up.

Tris frowns. "Future Mrs Pedrad?"

The two ladies look at each other knowingly. Marlene turns to the confused girl and lifts her left hand up to show her the dazzling silver band on her ring finger.

"I know it's a little early to get engaged, but his family has a history of young marriage."

Tris' mouth falls wide open. The ridiculous Uriah and sweet Marlene are engaged at the age of sixteen. It's quite a lot to take in.

The elevator doors open and a few men in rather casual outfits file out, leaving it empty. Myra holds the door open to usher Marlene and Tris inside, and sends them for the eighteenth floor.

_Thank God for elevator music,_ Marlene thinks. If it weren't for the Fallout games' main theme, the air would be thick with tension and awkward silence.

The elevator dings, signalling that they have reached their designated level. Tris walks out and looks around.

It is definitely an office building, alright. However, instead of plain white walls, the room is surrounded by a forest scenery. The floor she stands on isn't made of tiles but is clad with grass and the occasional shrub. When she looks above, her breath is caught in her throat.

The ceiling is a vivid shade of blue with bright, fluffy white clouds floating across it. _Wait, what?_

Tris takes a closer look at the wall, and notices that the leaves are moving in time with the clouds. She squints even more and it all makes sense.

The wall is actually a digital screen, and so are the floor and ceiling.

"Impressive, isn't it?" She turns to the source of the voice, Myra. "One of our colleagues suggested that we do something like this to get us more in tuned with our work. It really enhances the atmosphere. Not only did he give the idea, he also helped with the design. The best part is that he isn't even a game designer or programmer, but a play tester."

"Whoever it is, is crazy smart. This is incredible," Tris breathes out in awe. "That person is seriously a genius."

"I never thought you would ever call me a genius, Tris. I used to be quite the idiot back when we last saw each other."

That playful smirk. It's so familiar. She has seen it before. It is a smirk that is very similar to Marlene's fiancé's.

"Zeke?"

Zeke lifts up two fingers to the side of his forehead as a friendly salute. "Yo Tris."

He still has that laid-back attitude. Despite the several years that have passed by, he hasn't changed much. That boyish smirk remains, and that mischievousness is still there, even if it's just a tiny speck.

Zeke was one of Tris' favourites. He was the perfect brother. Protective, athletic, funny, yet he knows when is the right time to laugh. The cheeky boy she once knew no longer exists. He has been replaced by a very mature teenager who is now in the working force.

No, she's wrong. Zeke is very different.

"My future sis-in-law told me that you've changed quite a lot too," he forces a fake smile. However, one of the things about him that didn't change is his deception skill. It is still as bad as ever. "Since you're here, let me show you my office and some of my colleagues."

Tris fidgets nervously. He has been told about what kind of person she is now, yet he's still so patient with her. For that, she feels respect. It isn't easy to be nice to a bitch. She wants to refuse his offer, but is afraid of possibly offending him. "Thanks Zeke, but I don't really—"

"Nonsense! You've always been intrigued by all this gaming shit and how they work, so here's your chance to finally find out! Come on!"

He grabs her wrist and pulls her into the maze of cubicles. She can't afford to break away from him, now that they are smack in the middle of the winding tables. If she tries to run away, she'd get lost. That would be even worse as she would need to ask help from strangers. At least with Zeke, she will encounter the nice and approachable people. Even if they aren't, Zeke will handle it. He always did. He always became her protector whenever her main shield wasn't around, which wasn't really that often. _Tobias was around me most of the time to the point that he was like a stalker._

Tris mentally scoffed at her thoughts of Tobias. _Yeah, his presence sure was consistent the past couple of years._

"This is Bud, he's one of our games graphics designer, though mostly for character customisation. He used to do hair and tats, so he knows quite a bit about what would look good on the human body. Say hi, Bud."

Tris wonders if it's even a good idea to introduce her to him at this time. His brow is furrowed and his hand is moving the mouse slowly and steadily. _He must be busy,_ she muses.

Without turning his gaze away from the screen, Bud waves to Tris using his free hand. "Hi Tris. Pedrad here has told me so many stories about you that I would've thought you were his girlfriend had Shauna not already been his wife."

"It's more of a brotherly love," Tris laughs. Suddenly, something clicks. "Wait, Shauna and Zeke are married?"

Bud nods.

Her eyes widen and she flicks her gaze to Zeke's left hand. True enough, there is a green emerald glittering proudly on his ring finger. She grins. "Finally."

Zeke's jaw drops. "What the hell is that supposed to mean, Prior?!"

"Exactly what it means, Pedrad."

"You have to see them when they're together. I'll give you a free barf bag for when that happens," Bud comments, still not looking away from the computer. She snickers. "Thanks, and make that _two_ barf bags."

"Wise choice, Tris."

"Hey!" Zeke cries out indignantly. He shakes his head and drags Tris away. "Bye Bud, you're a terrible influence."

"I'm just giving advice here. Excruciatingly important advice."

"I said _bye!"_

_Nope, I'm wrong again. Zeke is still Zeke,_ she concludes with a nostalgic smile.

He leads her around to meet some other colleagues. Tris gasps in amazement at every single one of them and the different duties they have. Graphics designing, play testing, key binding... Each of those different and even insignificant jobs are important to make a fun video game. They are very friendly as well. Tris wouldn't mind working alongside them.

She is in the midst of listening to Lauren, another play tester, talk about her favourite parts of Bethesda's new and upcoming game when she sees a tiny white figure with orange and black spots scurry along the ground in her periphery.

Her head whips around in alarm. "Manami?!"

"Woah! Slow down! You just got patched up!" A panicked voice is heard from the opposite direction. Uriah comes running, trying to catch the swift cat.

Tris rolls her eyes. "Uriah, you idiot." She walks briskly after her pet and commands sternly, "Manami! Come back here!"

It would work. It always worked. Whenever the cat got out of hand, she would scold her with a sharp yell and Manami would lay her head on her owner's feet, begging for forgiveness. This time would be no different from the previous times. She will definitely come trotting back to Tris and do her usual 'repentance ritual'.

Manami ignores her mistress and continues running.

Tris stands in shock for a second before gritting her teeth in anger. She has no choice but to try and keep up with her before she inevitably gets lost. _That goddamned cheeky cat._

Tris chases after her. Unfortunately, her short legs and weak body allow her to only be able to catch glimpses of Manami's body as she turns round the corners.

"Stop running! Are you even listening to me?!"

The two brothers watch from Lauren's cubicle. Due to Tris' short stature, they are only able to see the top of her dirty blonde hair. They watch as she makes a left turn, and then a right turn, followed by another left, making her way through the office. It doesn't look like Manami is just wandering aimlessly. She seems to be heading for a specific place. But _where?_

It takes two seconds for them to realise. "Oh—"

"—Shit," Uriah completes for his brother. They look at each other, sending messages through their eyes, their exclusive Pedrad sibling ability. They nod and run in different directions, taking different routes. Hopefully they would reach that cubicle before Tris and Manami do.

"Seriously, what is with you? Are you on catnip? Did the vet drug you or something?!" Tris pants in distress, still trying to catch the feline.

Manami turns to the left and runs inside a cubicle at the end of the room. Tris tries to turn at the right time but fails, slamming her arm into the wall. She hisses in pain. "Dammit, Manami..."

Manami heads for one of the worker's legs. She rubs her head against it affectionately. The worker looks down in surprise. "Manami?"

She meows at the sound of her name. The worker laughs and lifts her up to cuddle and stroke her. "Uriah told me he found you outside the café. It's been a while, huh?"

The cat nestles herself comfortably in the worker's arms. She closes her eyes and purrs contentedly, letting herself enjoy the warmth radiating from her old friend.

Tris leans against the entrance to the cubicle to catch her breath. Spots cloud her vision and she feels like she's about to faint. Her hair is messed up, some of the strands covering her face, making her look like one of those ghosts in the movies.

The worker gasps and immediately heads over to help this young girl. A gentle arm wraps around her shoulders and helps her to the chair. Her eyes are closed and her mouth is wide open, still exhausted from the chase for the cat in the worker's arms who is staring at her owner with wide eyes.

"Are you alright? Do you need any water?" The worker asks worriedly.

Tris opens her eyes a crack. "Y-Yeah, thanks for the offer, but I don't nee—"

Her heart stops for a fleeting moment. She has seen this person before, a couple years back, both the child version and the present version. This person was in a video game. This person made himself in a video game. This person made himself as an _adult_ in a video game.

That defined jawline. That cute nose. That slightly prominent cheekbone. That slightly tanned skin. That dark brown hair.

Those beautiful midnight blue eyes.

When she pushes her hair away from her face, he recognises her as well. The shock is very evident on his face.

The Pedrad brothers finally reach the cubicle, only to realise that it is too late, that the damage has already been done.

It is silence for a while, and Tris' small and fragile voice breaks the silence.

"Tobias."

**Merry Trismas, everyone! :D**

**Nyaning in the Fear Landscape**

**~~Divergent Kitty (=^ω^=)**


	16. Plans, Shopping, and Success

**Hi guys! :D School has started for me, and my classmates are being little shits, just like last year. Nothing has changed much, besides the fact that my math teacher is the discipline master(cri) and that I'm now a FUCKING SENPAI :DDDD**

**But the juniors are fucking pricks. They think they're entitled to everything. I've only met like two or three juniors who are actually nice and know their place. I MET A REALLY NICE GIRL WHO WANTS TO JOIN THE AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITY I'M IN**

**AND**

**ANOTHER ERERI SHIPPER ASDFGHJKL YAASSS I MEAN HER PHONE KEYBOARD IS LITERALLY EREN'S AND LEVI'S FACES CLOSE TO EACH OTHER :3333**

**Okay time to move on to the chapter. XD**

**Do I own Divergent and Meyrin, Uriah?**

**Uri: Nope, you don't. *groans* Are you serious, another anime reference? Really?**

***sheepish grin* Ehehehehe... Yeah... Sorreh xD**

_"Tobias."_

How long has it been since she said his name? So many years. The last time she said it in this exact situation, with Zeke and Uriah standing at the side, was her first day of school.

**~•~•~•~•~Seven years ago~•~•~•~•~**

"Tobias!" Tris exclaimed as he was walking away with his bag. He turned around and hummed a 'hm?'

She giggled as she waved goodbye. He smiled and waved back before heading toward his own class. The two brothers snickered as they watched the two friends. Or, as they secretly called it, 'the two more-than-friends'.

The rest of the day in school was not as interesting as recess, much to Tris' dismay. In fact, the lessons were ridiculously boring and sleep inducing. The only thing that was keeping her awake was Christina and her threats to force her to go shopping after school.

Unfortunately for Tris, it seemed that the teachers were in on Christina's plan.

"Tris!" Miss Meyrin called out to wake Tris up. It took her a few seconds to realise she was caught sleeping in class. Her eyes widened in alarm.

What was even more alarming was the smirk on Christina's face.

"I'm sorry, Miss Meyrin. I didn't mean to, I just didn't have enough sleep last night." That was a half lie. The part about sleep unintentionally was true, but not about being sleep deprived. If anything, it was the complete opposite. Tobias' bed and presence were more than enough to drag her to a deep slumber.

Miss Meyrin nodded and smiled kindly. "No problem! Sorry for the boring lesson. I tend to ramble about the topic I'm teaching, and this happens to be one of the times."

Tris smiled back. It had only been a half hour and she already liked her science teacher.

When she turned to her right, Christina winked and mouthed the word 'shopping'.

Okay, maybe Tris didn't really like her teacher that much anymore.

**~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~**

"See you guys tomorrow!" Miss Meyrin waved. Her students waved back as they walked out of the classroom. Tris was exiting her last class and happened to see the gesture. Miss Meyrin really is popular, isn't she.

The red haired teacher caught sight of Tris and ran to her. "Hey Tris, having fun in school so far?"

"Kinda," she shrugged in response. "Only one class that I liked."

"Mine?" Miss Meyrin smirked. Tris shrugged, but her smile gave it away. Miss Meyrin laughed and ruffled Tris' hair. "I better get going," she said as she lifted her hand away from Tris' hair. "Got a couple of papers to collect from the teachers' room. See you tomorrow, Tris!"

"Bye, Miss Meyrin!" Tris waved before sprinting to her locker.

Now, Christina told her that Tris had better be early, if not she would have to 'face the consequences'. Well, who was the one being late now? Also, who the heck would take so long in the bathroom? Whatever reason she would give, no matter how valid, it wouldn't change the fact that Chris was a hypocrite.

The pounding of leather boots slapping against the tile floors caught her attention. She turned around to see her teacher who looked like she ran a marathon with her messy hair. Yet for some reason, she was not out of breath, neither was she sweating. Surely a science teacher would not be that athletic, right? "Ah! I forgot to tell you something!" Tris turned around.

"Have fun shopping with Christina!" She winked.

Chris just happened to be walking by and Miss Meyrin raised a hand to her. Chris grinned and gave it a good smack in a high-five. Tris' mouth fell open.

So Miss Meyrin really was in on the plot!

Christina had a smug look on her face as she approached Tris. "You're gonna catch flies with your mouth open like that," she laughed.

Tris clamped her mouth shut.

"Anyway," Christina continued, "I've informed Mom that I would be taking you out shopping today. She was really keen on the idea since she wants you to familiarise with the neighbourhood."

Oh well, there went her plan to get Evelyn to help her back out down the drain. There really wasn't any escape from this, was there.

**~•~•~•~•~A few hours later~•~•~•~•~**

The trip to the mall was surprisingly not as bad as Tris thought. In fact, she found it pretty fun. Going outside with Christina to get clothes wasn't that boring, although it was a little scary. Whenever Tris made an unsatisfactory clothing choice, Christina ranted about how bad Tris' sense of fashion was and started making a list of reasons on why she should not buy it.

"It's too plain, too bland, too boring. You need more colour. More colour means more fun."

"It's too colourful. It'll make you look like a freaking walking rainbow. Plus, people would think you're a hippie."

"It has too many patterns. Only old wrinkly ladies wear stuff like that, and we're light years away from old."

"That's too thin. For crying out loud, it's winter. I don't want to have to drag a girl frozen in a block of ice home. It'd be humiliating for both you and me."

"This one shows too much skin, I thought you didn't like revealing clothes."

"That has way too many layers! Show more skin, you're not a nun!"

Tris took that back; shopping with Christina was torture.

By the time they got home, Tris was dead beat. She would have felt even deader if it hadn't been for the chauffeur. He helped them carry their bags to the car and fetched them home. It saved Tris a lot of her energy.

"Thank you, Harrison," she said gratefully as she massaged her arm. She still had to carry the bags on her own in the mall, after all. Harrison only helped out at the last bit of the trip.

She headed to Tobias' room where the chauffeur left her newly bought clothes. The total amount spent was around two hundred dollars, and that was only Tris' share. Christina definitely splurged much more. The number of new clothes she bought was enough to make her old wardrobe burst at the hinges.

She laid all the apparel on the carpeted floor and started sorting them into groups. Shirts in one pile, pants and skirts in another, and dresses were hung on hangers that were given to her by Chris. Once they were all folded neatly, she pushed them into one corner so as not to clutter up his room.

"You can store them in my wardrobe," Tobias said without even looking away from the computer. He was too busy clicking and typing and could not possibly lose his focus at that moment.

She nodded even though he couldn't see it and proceeded to do as he said. It was an easy thing to do, since everything was already folded into neat stacks. She was just finishing up separating her clothes from his when she noticed the crease in his eyebrow.

Was something wrong?

Afraid to make him more upset than he already seemed to be, she walked with light feet toward him. She craned her neck to see what he was doing.

There was a window open with endless lines of code. Those lines were quickly extending with even more letters to add on to the code. It was only then Tris realised that Tobias was the one typing it all in.

"Woah," she murmured in awe. It was strange, but she found it oddly mesmerising. The speed at which Tobias' hands were moving, the letters appearing so swiftly; it was all a treat to her eyes. He heard her sound of amazement and smiled, still not turning away from the screen. "Yeah, I've been trying to fix the Skyrim bug for the past ten days."

A silence settled between them, only broken by the sounds of the keys constantly getting abused by Tobias' fingertips. He still had that look, making him seem very distressed.

Tris could not bear with that expression on his face. To try make him look a little happier, she poked his eyebrow.

He paused in his work and swivelled around in his chair. "Wha—"

"You don't look so handsome when you frown like that," she pouted as she continued to prod at the tiny hairs above his eye. "You won't get a girlfriend if you keep having this unhappy face."

Tobias laughed, the crease vanishing instantaneously. "I'm not looking for a girlfriend that soon, but I'll just stop frowning anyways if that's what you want."

"Were you frowning because you were upset just now?"

"No, I just tend to look like that when I'm extremely focused on something. Don't fret about it, I'm not upset," he assured her.

He continued typing away for a couple more minutes. It could have been ten, twenty, maybe even an hour. She lost track of time.

All of a sudden, Tobias called out triumphantly. Tris' head perked up. She had never heard him sound that happy before. Then again, she did not know him that long.

"What is it?" She asked, curiosity coating every word. He did not answer. A huge smile replaced his downturned lips. He opened his Steam library and selected Skyrim. He stood up and seated Tris on the chair.

"Play it."

"Won't it crash?"

"Just play this really fun game!" He exclaimed, shaking in excitement. Tris raised an eyebrow and clicked 'play'. Like before, the screen turned black and the words "Bethesda Game Studios" appeared in metallic words before fading away. A song started playing in the background as the smoke started to form from the bottom of the screen. A big dragon symbol popped up, with several words to its right.

Tobias moved the mouse to click the option 'new game'. "Let's hope this works," he said as he crossed his fingers.

The screen turned black again, and stayed that way for quite a while.

Tris was dismayed. All hard work with the programming and coding, and for what? It wouldn't work. "I'm sorry, Tobias..." She started.

"No," he cut her off, his voice trembling. "It has to work. It has to. Just wait a little longer."

They waited, but there still wasn't any change.

Until...

"Wait, something's happening!" Tris cried out. Tobias immediately moved the mouse around, finding out that the the land on the screen moved around in sync with it. It was as if the screen was showing what a person would see from their own eyes.

The gorgeous autumn trees, the rough road, and the words "The Elder Scrolls IV: Skyrim".

"It works," Tobias murmured, close to tears.

"It finally works."

**YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I CAN RELATE TO THE WHOLE SKYRIM CRASHING THING. MY BRO ACTUALLY TOOK TWO FREAKING YEARS TO FIX IT. I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING.**

**Now we have 318 hours spent on Skyrim, not inclusive of the time we played on the pirated version. c:**

**AND I FUCKING FLIPPED IN THE BOOKSTORE TODAY BECAUSE I WANTED TO BUY SNK VOLUME 16 SPECIAL EDITION(I couldn't find the normal volume) AND I WAS NOT ALLOWED TO BUY IT BECAUSE IT HAD A FUCKING UNSUITABLE FOR CHILDREN TAG ON IT AND THE BEST PART IS THAT THE PREVIOUS TIMES I BOUGHT SNK VOLUMES THEY SAID NOTHING**

**EVEN THOUGH EACH VOLUME IS AS GORY AS THE NEXT**

**JUST BECAUSE OF ONE FUCKING TINY YELLOW TAG**

**IT'S LIKE THE COVER THAT IS DRAWN BY THE ARTIST BEHIND THE WALKING DEAD MAKES IT SUDDENLY UNSUITABLE FOR UNDER 18S**

**WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT I DEMAND JUSTICE! *heavy breathing***

**'Kay rant over. *deflates***

**Nyaning in the Fear Landscape**

**~~Divergent Kitty (=^ω^=)**


	17. News, Captivation, and Rage

**Note: I apologise for the hell lotta words in bold. I have a lot of things to talk about. XD**

**Also, the guest reviewer who wrote that long ass review, if you are reading this, could you read the little section below the all the A/N caps in this A/N? Thanks!**

**EVEN IF YOU DON'T READ A/NS, THIS IS IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ, IT'S A LONG A/N BUT YOU'RE GOING TO BE READING A LONG ASS CHAPTER ANYWAY, SO PLEASE READ IT.**

**I TOOK A LOT OF EFFORT FINDING A GOOD "SONG OF THE CHAPTER" KINDA THING AND I FOUND ONE. THE PART WHERE TOBIAS FINDS TRIS IN THE CROWD, LISTEN TO THE SONG E.M.A. FROM THE ATTACK ON TITAN SOUNDTRACK, FROM 3:41 ONWARDS TILL 5:43.**

**PLEASE LISTEN TO THE SONG WHILE READING THAT PART, OR AT LEAST READ THE CHAPTER AND THEN LISTEN TO THE SONG AND IMAGINE THE FIGHT HAPPENING.**

**REVIEW IF YOU DID IT BECAUSE THIS IS LITERALLY ONE OF THE BEST IDEAS I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE OMFG**

**Hai guest reviewer. :3 I wish you had an account so that I could discuss with you privately :( Anyway, I just want to say I really appreciate what you reviewed. You did say it might come off as harsh, and I did feel a bit hurt when you pointed out all the flaws in this fanfic. But it was just hurting my pride. I admit that is pretty self-centred, but now I fully realise that my stories aren't perfect, that if I want to be an author in future, I'll need feedback WAY in advance. You made very good points, and I am very thankful for that as it will help me improve on my writing. In fact, the point you made about Tris and her want to go to back to her family being completely non-existent will really help me out in a story idea of mine as it has something similar to that. I definitely want to fix all these problems in this fanfic, but I'm afraid it's pretty much impossible now because it would just add on to the filler. I'll try my best to correct those mistakes in the next couple of chapters and speed things up. No promises that I will be able to do so though, since my writing for this story is rustier than I expected. Well, I obviously can't be perfect right off the bat, it'll have to come through with practice and maybe even trial and error.**

**With all that being said, I would really appreciate it if you could review your thoughts and suggestions on how I could improve on these plot holes, or maybe even make an account, if that isn't too much trouble. Thank you so much for your Candor! :D**

_The gorgeous autumn trees, the rough road, and the words "The Elder Scrolls IV: Skyrim"._

_"It works," Tobias murmured, close to tears._

_"It finally works."_

Everyone could not have been more shocked to see the usually indifferent Tobias running down the hallways excitedly with a huge grin on his face. His heart thumped rapidly. _I can't wait to tell Zeke about this!_

The young girl who was out of breath called his name to let him know that she couldn't keep up with his pace. Upon hearing her voice in such a weak tone, he immediately turned back to help her.

"Sorry, I'm just really pumped up," he grinned sheepishly as he rocked back on forth on his heels. Tris shook her head and smiled, contented to see him so happy. She was unable to keep her mouth closed though, and had to open it again to gasp for air.

Seeing that she was no longer able to go on, he swept his right arm to the side of her legs, making her fall to the left. Her arms flailed around, trying to regain her balance with a loud yelp. Failing to do so, she braced herself for the impact. Surprisingly, there was no pain. Instead, what she felt was a comforting warmth wrapped around her back. Strong arms lifted her up in a gentle motion.

Tris sighed, relaxed, and snuggled even deeper in his arms. Unfortunately, the burning stares from the other students forced her to snap back to reality. "T-Tobias!" She cried out, flustered. "You can't carry me here!"

"Yeah I can."

"No you can't!"

"There's no specific restriction for carrying other students."

"I'm a girl!"

"So? Carrying a guy would be even worse. People would start calling me gay."

Tris buried her face into his shoulder and groaned, trying her best not to reveal her blush. She later realised doing that would cause even more controversy, so she decided to look at her surroundings.

Big mistake.

The hushed whispers from the students made her self-conscious and the jealous looks from other girls made her uncomfortable. She vouched for pressing herself to his body and shutting out every other human being.

Wait, why was she being carried again?

Small hands pushed at his chest. Tobias glanced down as Tris tried to get herself back to solid ground. However, his grip was like iron, thus making her attempts futile. If anything, it made her even more embarrassed because she was clawing at his body. Tobias watched in amusement as she persisted in trying to get herself on her feet again on the floor, her cheeks tinted a bright red.

_This isn't that bad,_ she reassured herself. _My schoolmates don't know who I am, so it's alright. At least Toby's friends aren't here to see me like this._

"Trying to prove that you're straight by using Tris as a decoy? Never knew you'd stoop so low, Toby."

_I jinxed it, _Tris sobbed internally. She blocked out every word that was about to come out of Zeke's mouth.

"Shut the hell up, Zeke. At least I have the balls to carry her princess-style. You still don't dare to even hug Shauna in public."

"Oh, so you're indirectly admitting that our feelings to each of our respective girls are the same!"

"What?!" It was Tobias' turn to blush this time. "N-No! That's not true!"

"You really need to start taking lessons from your sister on how to tell a convincing lie. Nobody would buy what you said."

"What _did_ he say?"

Zeke jumped at the sound of Shauna's voice. "H-How much of the c-conversation did you hear?" He stuttered. If she was eavesdropping from the start... He felt like he was about to die from embarrassment.

She shrugged. "Only from the part about Toby needing to learn how to lie, which I completely agree with. Anyway, what was he saying? Tell me!"

He laughed nervously, "Hahaha, it wasn't really anything to take note of!" As much as he would love to embarrass Tobias by revealing his very obvious crush on the girl in his arms, he couldn't. That would mean he would have to confess to Shauna as well. Of course, there was a small chance that he would be able to word it properly without mentioning his own crush, but he wasn't smart enough(or he was too dumb) to think of a way he could say it. He could not risk it.

Tobias, on the hand, felt like he had nothing to lose. "I was defending the fact that Zeke's feelings toward you aren't the same as—"

His words got cut off by a hand covering his mouth. _Damn you and your clever way of saying things._ Zeke glared at his best friend.

Shauna paid no attention to Tobias' words as she was more focused on a very, _very,_ red Tris. "Hey Tris! How's the view from up there?" She teased.

Tris just wanted to curl up into a ball and die.

Sensing how uncomfortable Tris was, Tobias aimed a glare at Shauna. She shrank under his stern gaze. "I was only joking... Sorry Tris."

"It's okay." It actually wasn't. In fact, it was far from okay. Her face was burning up so much to the point that someone might think she was running a fever.

"You sure?" Shauna's brow creased in worry. "You look like you're pretty sick. Do we need to get you to the school infirmary to rest?"

"Maybe she needs pills for altitude sickness," Zeke snickered. As much as she didn't want to be insensitive, Shauna could not help but laugh at his words. The fact that she was attracted to him did not help.

Tobias sighed and reluctantly put Tris down. She was more than happy to be back on her own two feet, although a small part of her wished that she could continue feeling the sway of being carried. After making sure that she was stable, he turned to his two friends. "Okay, now that I've stopped carrying her, can you two shut up?!"

"We can't help it! You two are just so cute!"

Tris misunderstood what Shauna said. Her innocence made her interpret it as Shauna calling both of them cute _individually_. What she actually meant was that they looked cute _together_. Neither of the comments would make her happy.

As an attempt to get back at them, she yelled, "You're one to talk! If we're cute, you two are even cuter!"

A blush covered Zeke and Shauna's cheeks instantly. Tobias smirked and stroked Tris' hair approvingly. "Good comeback, Tris." He put his fist out to the side and waited for her to react. She was very familiar with the fist bump, she did it all the time with Caleb. Her fist connected with his, their knuckles molding together perfectly, like two jigsaw puzzle pieces. A smile spread over her face and her eyes were shining with pride. A giggle escaped her lips.

Even though Zeke and Shauna were still brooding over how they got burned by a kid two years younger and two inches shorter, they could not help thinking the same thoughts; _they are absolutely adorable._

Desperate to change the subject after feeling the stares, Tris asked Tobias, "Didn't you want to tell Zeke some very important news?"

He stared at her for a while before suddenly exclaiming, "Oh!"

"What do you wanna tell me? And you were spacing out again, weren't you." Zeke stated.

"Yeah, it hasn't happened in quite a while," Tobias said sheepishly, hoping that they couldn't see through his lie again. No, he wasn't spacing out. It was just... Captivation. _Yeah, I was just captivated by Tris' bright blue eyes._

No way in hell was he ever going to say that out loud, even if he were alone.

Since when did he turn from emotionless asshole to sappy teenage boy? Seriously, he was starting to look like your typical male protagonist in your average shoujo romance manga.

He shook his head slightly to get rid of the thoughts. "Anyway, what I want to tell you both is... I fixed Skyrim."

Zeke and Shauna blinked. "Um, what?"

"He got the game to work!" Tris grinned. "He really did! I got to customise my character! I made a cat person!"

"She couldn't stomach the beheading scene, though," he laughed. "I had to get this poor thing a paper bag to retch in."

She shot him a glare from the corner of her eye. "Shut up..."

Shauna got over her shock rather quickly and chuckled. "Well, the game is rated M18 after all. Little Trissy wouldn't be able to go through all that, right Zeke?"

She turned to him, but his mouth was still wide open. She frowned and waved a hand in front of his face. There was still no response. "Uh, Zeke? You're kinda freaking us out here."

His voice came out as a small whisper and Shauna leaned in, straining her ears to hear him. "What?"

"You got Skyrim to work?!" He screeched. She winced and rubbed her ear. Unfortunately, his statement caught the attention of the pupils around them. Most of them were boys, and all of them knew about or played video games. They had all heard of Skyrim and its current situation with all the game-breaking bugs.

Well, current situation until now.

A large crowd of students surrounded the four friends. All of them were pushing each other, trying to get through to Tobias. The loud and excited shouts hurt his ears and he scowled in annoyance.

"Tobias! You fixed Skyrim?!"

"You are such a boss!"

"Hey, help me with my copy of Skyrim for me will ya? I'm free on Saturday," one of the boys said suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows jokingly.

Zeke and Shauna groaned and looked at each other. Situations like this had happened before. It always started with the male demographic, and then the girls would take advantage of the questions headed his way, even if they knew nothing about the topic. Whenever it happened, they found it both hilarious and just annoying.

_And here come the females..._

"You did something amazing again? Tell me more about it!"

"Ah, you're so popular, as always!"

That was the useless flirting with nothing to do with the topic at hand. Even though their words were absolutely sucking up to Tobias, at least they knew the things they did not know about. _Now, where are the stupid ones who pretend to know and fail miserably..._

"Tobias, could you help me fix my Skyrim app?"

_There they are._

Poor Tris was getting squished in the huge mass of bodies. _Tobias is really popular with both genders, isn't he,_ she thought ruefully. A small and selfish part of her hated that because that part didn't want to share him with anyone else.

Tobias was reaching his limit. Both boys and girls wanted to be close to him, some even closer than socially appropriate. _Oh God, I hope Tris is alright... This might be too overwhelming for her._ He was about to call her name when he spotted her golden blonde hair in the crowd. A sigh of relief came out of his mouth unwillingly, but that sigh was only halfway out when he saw what was happening.

One of the boys had both his arms wrapped around her, his left hand squeezing her chest and the other smoothing over the space between her legs. His chin was resting on her shoulder and he had a devious, no-good smile on his face as he stared hungrily at her. Tris did nothing but stared blankly into nothing. Tobias had a sense of déjà vu, but it was not a good memory that was dug up.

_YOU FUCKING BASTARD!_

He stormed his way through the crowd, accidentally elbowing some of his schoolmates. They yelped in pain but it didn't matter. Nothing else mattered except for his duty to beat that boy senseless until he was barely breathing. Even then, he didn't deserve such mercy.

The others who had seen what happened to those who did not make way for Tobias immediately cleared a path for him. An angry Tobias was a scary Tobias. And a scary Tobias was a person even Satan would not want to mess with.

And he was more than angry.

He was _fuming_.

There were soft murmurs from the crowd. Words like "oh my God", "shit he's pissed" and "I hope he's not mad at me or I'm gonna die" were said by the fearful onlookers. Tobias heard none of the remarks. The sound of his sneakers padding forcefully against the shiny polished white floor echoed around the walls.

His face showed no emotion other than red-hot rage. Everyone standing in his direction immediately stayed out of his way. They had no idea where he was headed. All they knew was that they weren't the ones he was going to murder, since they did nothing wrong.

Those in front of Tris and that boy were completely oblivious to the two behind them. One of the them, a dark skinned girl with long hair that still had a tint of purple from the remnants of her hair dye, heard a tiny whimper from behind and turned around. Her eyes went wide at the sight in front of her and she clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle a gasp. A hand suddenly landing on her shoulder made her jump.

"Out of the way," Tobias said quietly. She gulped and immediately moved to the side, exposing the scene to him clearly, right in front of him.

The urge to kill was just too strong.

The boy with light blonde shaggy hair grinned evilly as he licked the shell of Tris' ear with a long slurp. His eyelids were heavily drawn over the light blue orbs that were twinkling with mischief. The worst part was that Tris was hanging helplessly in his arms like a lifeless ragdoll.

He was doing it on purpose. He knew it would rile Tobias up. He knew that he was one of the very few in Tobias' trusted people list, and that hurt even more.

"Peter Hayes."

At the mention of his name, Peter looked up innocently with a sweet smile. "Hi Tobias! Congrats on getting your game to run! Also—"

"Hands off," he cut off, not wanting to deal with this any longer than he had to. Getting straight to the point was definitely more important than listening to whatever shit Peter wanted to say. "She's mine." His possessive side came out.

"Oh?" Peter raised his eyebrow and smirked. "I don't see a label with your name on it. Hm, maybe if I checked _here_—"

A hand travelled up Tris' leg and under her skirt to expose her underwear. A collective gasp of shock and horror rung over the large group of spectators. Tobias' mouth hung open. He. Did. Not.

"Did you leave your mark at this area, Tobias?" Peter tapped his finger at the private white cloth. "To be honest, I feel like taking over this production line of yours. Let me mark her too. Maybe we can do a collaboration: Have both our presence be carved into this little asset."

That's. Fucking. It.

Tobias' fist hit his jaw hard, the impact sending him reeling backwards. A crazed laugh made its way out of the blonde boy's mouth.

"That was only one punch, man! You think a single hit is gonna scare me into submission?!"

The crooked smirk on Peter's face was confident, despite the bruise forming underneath his lips.

Oh how he would love to wipe the look off his face, permanently. Even better, wipe every look off his face. Get rid of his facial expressions entirely.

_Yeah. I might do that._

It eventually turned into a fight and some students had left to fetch a teacher. The rest stayed to watch. So far, Tobias was winning. He wasn't rash like Peter was, all his moves were calculated perfectly. Peter didn't stand a chance against the boy who was two years his senior.

Fast and clumsy movement in Tobias' periphery caught his attention. He saw Tris get helped up by Zeke and Shauna in the corner. Hope lifted in her heart when she watched him hit the boy who molested her.

Her weak body would've fallen forward if it hadn't been for his two best friends helping her be steady. Upon seeing this, the boiling hot anger bubbled up inside him even more. The bastard had the nerve to touch her. How dare he! The anger threatened to bubble and spill over.

Peter spat out some blood before lunging at Tobias. Unfortunately for him, Tobias was too quick and agile for him. Peter did not stand a chance against him. The brown haired boy avoided the attack skilfully and used this to his advantage. Since Peter was falling forward because of too much force from the attempted attack, his back was exposed to Tobias.

Jackpot.

Tobias elbowed him hard in his spine and Peter's back arched in pain. He ended up falling hard on his front, the impact forcing the air out of his lungs. He lifted himself up on his elbow, trying to breathe in oxygen to compensate for the loss of air. The moment he tried, a heavy force landed on his back and his lungs felt constricted.

His hands reached out and clawed at the ground, trying to escape the ten year old monster named Tobias Eaton. However, Tobias was not one to let his prey run away from him. His hand grabbed Peter's arm and twisted it, hard. Peter let out an ear-piercing scream as Tobias held it there for ten seconds before he flipped him over, the long yellow strands getting tangled in the process. The light blue orbs were filled with white hot fear.

"No... I'm sorry, Tobias... I was just following Eric's orders... Please don't..." He pleaded desperately, his voice shaking. His heart dropped as soon as he saw something deadly flash in Tobias' eyes. Oh no.

"You son of a bitch."

He raised his arm up and put as much power as he could behind it. His fist flew to the stomach of the younger boy, and he coughed. The sound came out all garbled, and red spilt over his lips. "S-stop..."

"Touch her again and I will shove my foot so deep up your ass, you won't be able to shit right for _weeks."_

One hit followed another. Soon, it turned into a never ending line-up of punches. Each of them were initially aimed at different parts of Peter; his stomach, his arm, his shoulder. Eventually Tobias discovered that the smooth skin of Peter's face felt really nice against his knuckles.

The more he hit him in the face, the more discoloured it became. Different dark shades of red, purple, blue, and yellow swirled around his cheeks and mouth. The glossy crimson red that occasionally cut through the different colours made it all the more artistic. _Fascinating,_ Tobias thought with a cruel smile. _Maybe I should use this as an opportunity to improve my art skill and create a masterpiece._

Peter's cries were loud and the sound of skin splitting skin was even louder. Tobias originally wanted to hit the jaw but his hand slipped, hitting the throat instead. Peter gasped sharply and choked. Not on his saliva, but on his blood. The cries suddenly died down, his voice now hollow.

Tobias still had not stopped.

"Oh God no, it's one of his episodes," Shauna murmured quietly to herself, but Tris and Zeke heard it. He threw his hands up in frustration. "Dammit! I thought he had gotten over all that anger shit!"

Tris gulped, watching from the side. She had recovered from her shock and fear, unfortunately the first thing she had to see was Tobias going berserk.

It was extremely painful to watch, even more painful than when she was groped. She tried to go closer to him to snap him out of it, but Zeke and Shauna held her back.

"You don't know what you're getting into! And you don't want to know!"

"Don't even try! It's not gonna work!" Shauna warned. However, nothing was going to stop the stubborn girl from getting what she wanted.

She ran over to Tobias and tried holding him back. "Tobias! You're going too far! This isn't you!" She exclaimed, trying to convince him to stop. It was pointless though, he was not in the right frame of mind to listen to anyone. In a blind rage, he turned around and grabbed her by the collar. He lifted her face close to his as he sneered, "Shut the fuck up." After getting his point across, he shoved her to the ground.

Hard.

She landed on her back, the pain resonating in the rest of her body.

_Tobias..._

Zeke and Shauna gasped in horror while the rest of the audience remained quiet, terrified of what might happen if they broke the disturbing silence.

His breathing was laboured and very uneven as he stared at the petite figure on the ground with cold and unfeeling eyes. Hers were brimming with tears.

_No, Tobias... You're not like this. You can't be like this..._

A few seconds passed before the psychopathic look disappeared and got replaced by the innocent look Tris was more familiar with. He had finally come to his senses.

It was not a good moment for him. Bile rose in his throat. He felt sick.

There was a beaten and bloodied boy lying on the ground, knocked unconscious by his own hands, a crowd of shocked schoolmates, and worst of all. Tris was on the floor, staring at him in fear with forever flowing tears running down her cheeks.

The teachers finally arrived and dragged Tobias away in the direction of the office. The nurses from the sick bay gently carried Peter onto a stretcher and took him to the infirmary. Miss Meyrin was crouching by Tris' side, rubbing her back soothingly as the girl sobbed. Tobias stared into space, still trying to comprehend what just happened. No matter how much he tried to understand, there was only one thing that occupied his mind.

_What have I done?_

**The original chapter was just Tobias telling his friends about Skyrim and then just a normal day at school. Butt, I decided to add a bit of drama like a fight scene, but then more drama happened, AND BAM! ANGST TIME~ c:**

**I'm not sorry for the tears.**

**AND LET ME RANT OKAY**

**Remember the A/N in the previous chapter where I ranted about how I couldn't buy that manga volume? Well, I went out to the same bookstore with my two best friends and I was about to buy the volume again but remembered the whole age restriction thing. So I was like "Never mind, let's go."**

**But they were all like "Let's just try." But I refused because I knew it would be embarrassing, I'm probably the only teenage girl who buys SNK manga volumes from them so they would most likely recgonise me and wouldn't sell it to me. They insisted and I was like "YOU GUYS CAN TRY IT, YOU'RE GONNA FAIL I TELL YOU." I stood a distance away from the counter and when they went to pay for it,**

**THE LADY AT THE COUNTER LOOKED AT THE AGE RESTRICTION TAG. THEN SCANNED THE BOOK AND ACCEPTED THE MONEY. COLLEEN(I'M GONNA MENTION YOUR NAME BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE RAGING AT YOU RN) LOOKED AT ME WITH MY SHOCKED FACE AND SMIRKED AND I JUST FLIPPED HER OFF, I WAS SO FUCKING PISSED BECAUSE THE THREE OF US ARE THE SAME AGE, HELL I'M THE OLDEST AMONG US ALL FUUUUUUUU**

**I think it was my fringe that caused the problem. My bangs make me actually look my age or even younger. Colleen's black jacket that looked like a leather one and her combat boots probably made her look older, and Liyana's long wavy (FABULOUS)hair and hoop earrings probably made her look older too.**

**As you can tell, I'm still in denial that my bangs make me look like a twelve year old girl.**

***shoves face into pillow and sCREAMS IN FRUSTRATION***

**Nyaning in the Fear Landscape**

**~~Divergent Kitty (=^ω^=)**


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